UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 

DR.  MARTIN  KELLOGG. 
GIFT  OF  MRS.  LOUISE  B.  KELLOGG 

No. 


: 


Students'  Scries  of  iLattu  Classics 


GREEK  ANB  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 


BASED  ON 

STEUDING'S   GRIECHISCHE    UND   ROMISCHE 
MYTHOLOGIE 


KARL   POMEEOY   HAKEINGTON 

PROFESSOR  or  LATIN  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  NORTII  CAROLINA 

AND 

HEKBEET  GUSHING  TOLMAN 

PROFESSOR  OF  GREEK  IN  VANDERBILT  UNIVERSITY 


LEACH,    SHEWELL,   AND    SANBOEN 

BOSTON        NEW  YORK        CHICAGO 
1897 


p. 


COPYBIGHT,   1897,   BY 

KAKL  POMEROY  HARRINGTON 

AND 

HERBERT  GUSHING  TOLMAN 


Norfooofc 

J.  S.  Cashing  &  Co.  -  Berwick  &  Smith 
Norwood  Mass.  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

In  adapting  Standing's  Griechische  and  Romische 
Mythologie  to  the  needs  of  American  students,  two  aims 
have  been  kept  steadily  in  view :  first,  that  the  genesis 
and  development  of  the  myths  should  be  clearly  set 
forth ;  secondly,  that  the  text  should  be  supplemented 
by  a  generous  supply  of  references  to  some  of  the  most 
useful  literary  passages  illustrative  of  the  subjects  in 
hand.  Therein  lie  whatever  claims  this  little  book  has 
to  a  place  among  the  various  attractive  text-books  that 
have  recently  appeared  upon  the  same  subject.  It  is  not 
a  dictionary,  perhaps  not  even  a  reference  book  ;  but 
rather  an  attempt  to  furnish  within  small  compass  a  con- 
sistent and  systematic  exposition  of  the  development  of 
mythology  and  religion  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans. 

With  a  view  to  the  practical  convenience  of  all  classes 
of  students  likely  to  use  the  book,  it  has  seemed  wisest 
as  a  rule  to  spell  the  proper  names  in  the  way  in  which 

they  commonly  occur  in  English  literature  and  in  clas- 

iii 

126130 


IV  PREFACE 

sical  dictionaries.  Mere  transliterations  of  Greek  epi- 
thets, and  the  like,  are,  of  course,  not  Latinized;  but 
where  a  Latin  form  exists  it  has  usually  been  preferred. 
While  perfect  consistency  in  form  is  unattainable  on 
these  principles,  it  is  believed  that  such  consistency  is 
less  desirable  than  the  advantages  otherwise  gained. 

As  a  guide  to  proper  pronunciation,  the  quantities  of 
all  the  long  vowels  have  been  marked  in  the  index,  and, 
in  the  text,  in  names  printed  in  italic  or  full-faced  type. 

Grateful  acknowledgments  are  hereby  accorded  to  the 
various  scholars  that  have  contributed  towards  perfecting 
the  form  and  accuracy  of  the  book  :  especially  to  Pro- 
fessor Francis  Kingsley  Ball  of  the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  for  his  many  valuable  suggestions  and  his 
painstaking  care  in  reading  the  proof ;  to  Dr.  H.  F. 
Linscott  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  for  read- 
ing part  of  the  proof;  and  to  Professor  E.  M.  Pease, 
editor-in-chief  of  the  series,  for  his  wise  criticism  and 
help  at  every  stage  of  the  work. 

KARL  POME  ROY   HARRINGTON. 
HERBERT   GUSHING  TOLMAN. 

JANUARY,  1897. 


BRIEF   BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Fiske,  J.,  Myths  and  Myth-makers,  Boston,  1881. 

Frazer,  J.  G.,  The  Golden  Bough,  New  York  and  London,  1894. 

Furtwangler,  A.,  Meisterwerke  der  griechischen  Plastik,  Leip- 
zig, 1893  sq.  English  edition  by  Euge'nie  Sellers,  London,  1895 
sq. 

Gruppe,  O.,  Die  griechischen  Culte  u.  Mythen  in  ihrer  Bezieh- 
ungen  zu  den  orientalischen  Religionen,  Leipzig,  1887  sq. 

Harrison  and  Yerrall,  Mythology  and  Monuments  of  Ancient 
Athens,  London  and  New  York,  1890. 

Jacobi,  Ed.,  Handworterbuch  der  griech.  u.  rom.  Mythologie, 
Coburg  and  Leipzig,  1835. 

""  A.,  Myth,  Ritual,  and  Religion,  London,  1887  ;  article  on 
"  Mytv     ogy  "  in  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  9th  ed.,  vol.  17,  p.  135. 

1—  ,  Ernst,  Orpheus  :  Untersuchungen  zur  griechischen,  rom- 
ischen,  altchristlichen  Jenseitsdichtung  und  Religion,  Munich, 
1895. 

Mannhardt,  W.,  Antike  Wald-  und  Feldkulte,  Berlin,  1877  ; 
Mythologische  Forschungen,  Strassburg,  1884. 

Mayer,  M.,  Die  Giganten  und  Titanen  in  der  antiken  Sage  und 
Kunst,  Berlin,  1887. 

Meyer,  E.  H.,  Indogermanische  Mythen,  Berlin,  1883  sq. 

Miiller,  H.  D.,  Mythologie  der  griechischen  Stamme,  Gottingen, 
1857-1859. 

Miiller,  K.  O.,  Prolegomena  zu/einer  wissenschaftlichen  Mythol- 
ogie, Gottingen,  1825. 


VI  BRIEF  BIBLIG        ,PHY 

Miiller,  Max,  Chips  from  a  Gen  Workshop  ;  Science  of 
Religion,  London,  1873;  Science  of  •  age,  7th  ed.,  London, 

1873. 

Overbeck,  J.,  Geschichte  d.  griech.  7  }-ik,  4th  ed.,  Leipzig, 
1894  ;  Griechische  Kunstmythologie,  m  ,s,  Leipzig,  1871  sq. 

Pater,  W.,  Greek  Studies,  London,  Ib 

Preller,  L.,  Griechische  Mythologie,  Berlin,  1854  ;  4th  ed.  by 
C.  Robert,  1887  sq. ;  Romische  Mythologie,  Berlin,  1858  ;  3d  ed. 
by  H.  Jordan,  1881-1883. 

Rohde,  E.,  Psyche,  Freiburg  i.  B.,  1890. 

Roscher,  W.  H.,  Studien  zur  vergleichenden  Mythologie  der 
Griechen  und  Romer,  Leipzig,  1873  sq.  ;  Studien  zur  griechischen 
Mythologie  und  Kulturgeschichte  vom  vergleichendem  Stand- 
punkte,  Leipzig,  1878  sq. ;  Ausfuhrliches  Lexikon  der  griech- 
ischen und  romischen  Mythologie,  Leipzig,  1884  sn. 

Sittl,  K.,  Archaologie  der  Kunst  (Vol.  VI.  of  M  tiller's  Hand- 
buch  d.  klass.  Altertumswissenschaft),  Munich,  1895. 
Stengl,  P.,  Chthonischer  und  Totenkult,  Leipzig,  1895. 
Topffer,  J.,  Attische  Genealogie,  Berlin,  1889. 

Tylor,  E.  B.,  Primitive  Culture,  London,  1871  ;  Anthropology, 
New  York,  1881. 

Welcker,  F.  G.,  Griechische  Gotterlehre,  Gotting(  "  ""862. 

Whitney,  W.  D.,  Oriental  and  Linguistic  Studies,  Dries', 
New  York,  1874. 

Wilamowitz-Moellendorf,  U.  von,  Euripides' s  Herakles,  Vol.  I., 
Berlin,  1889. 

The  most  complete  grouping  and  discussion  of  all  the  literature 
that  appeared  on  the  subject  of  Greek  and  Roman  mythology 
during  the  years  1876-1885  is  made  by  A.  Preuner  in  Bursian's 
Jahresbericht,  Vol.  25  ;  all  works  on  Greek  mythology  that  ap- 
peared during  1886-1890  are  similarly  treated  in  Vol.  26,  by  Fried- 
rich  Back  ;  and  summaries  of  still  later  mythological  literature 
have  been  made  by  0.  Gruppe  in  the  same  periodical  in  1894  and 
1895. 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS 


A.    THE   ORIGIN  OF  MYTHS 

PAGE 

1.  The  Soul  and  the  Worship  of  the  Dead,  §§  1-9    ...      1 

2.  The  Divinities  of  Nature,  §§  10-14 10 

3.  The  Worship  of  the  Gods,  §§  15-19 13 

B.    THE   GREEK   GODS 

I.  THE  DIVINITIES  OF  THE  HEAVENS. 

1.  Representatives  of  the  Phenomena  of  the  Thunder- 

storm :  Zeus  (Giants,  Cyclops),  §§  20-31 ;  He- 
phaestus, §§  32,  33  ;  Prometheus,  §  34 ;  Athena 
(Erinyes,  Gorgons,  Graeae),  §§  35-42 16 

2.  W*        Divinities  :    Harpies,  §  43 ;    Wind  gods,   §  44 ; 

aes,  §§  45-48 34 

3.  Lnvmities  of  Light:   Apollo,  §§49-53;  Helios,  §54; 

Hera,  §§  55,  56;  Artemis,  §§  57,  58;  Hecate, 
§§  59,  60;  Selene,  §§  61,  62;  Stars,  §  63;  Eos, 
§  64 ;  Iris,  §  65 38 

II.   THE  DIVINITIES  OF  THE  EARTH,  §  66. 

1.  Fire  goddess :  Hestia,  §  67 52 

2.  Water  divinities :    Lesser  Sea  divinities,    §§   68-71  ; 

Poseidon,  §§  72-75;    River  gods,  §  76;   Centaurs,    . 
§§  77,  78;    Sileni,  §  79;   Nymphs,  §  80    ....     52 

3.  Divinities  of  Growth,  §  81 :  Satyrs,  §  82 ;  Pan,  §§  83, 

84;  Dionysus,  §§  85-93;  Demeter  and  Core,  §§  94- 

98  ;  Gaea,  §  99 63 

vii 


Viii  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

III.  THE  DIVINITIES  OF  THE  LOWER  WORLD.  PAGE 

1.  Divinities  of  Death :  Hades,  §§  100,  101 75 

2.  Divinities   of   Sickness   and    Healing :    Aesculapius, 

§§  102,  103      . 77 

IV.  PERSONIFICATIONS,  §  104 78 

1.  The  Divinities  of  Love,  Social  Intercourse,  Order,  and 

Justice:  Aphrodite,  §§  105-109;  Eros,  §§  110,  111; 
Charites,  §§  112,  113;  Muses,  §  114;  Horae  and 
Themis,  §  115 79 

2.  The  Divinities  of  War  and  Strife:  Ares,  §§  116, 117  .      87 

3.  The  Divinities  of  Destiny :   Moerae,  §  118 ;  Nemesis, 

•§119;  Tyche,  §§  120,  121 89 

C.  THE  GREEK  HEROES 

1.  Thebes :    Cadmus,   §  123 ;    Antiope,   §   124 ;    Niobe, 

§  125 93 

2.  Argolis :  lo,  §  126 ;  Danatis,  §  127  ;  Perseus,  §  128 ; 

Tantalus,  §§  129-131 96 

3.  Corinth :  Sisyphus,  §  132  ;  Bellerophontes,  §  133   .     .     103 

4.  Laconia:  Dioscuri,  §  134;  Helen,  §  135 105 

5.  Hercules,  §§  136-149 .106 

6.  Theseus,  §§  150-158 117 

CYCLES  OF  MYTHS. 

1.  Meleager  and  the  Calydonian  Hunt,  §§  159,  160     .     .  122 

2.  The  Argonauts,  §§  161-166 124 

3.  The  Theban  Cycle,  §§  167-174 128 

4.  The  Trojan  Cycle,  §§  175-186 134 


D.    THE   ROMAN   GODS,   §  187 

I.   DIVINITIES  NOT  REDUCED  TO  A  UNIFORM  CONCEPTION. 

(1)  Souls:    Genii,    Junones,    Lares,    Manes,    Lemures, 

Larvae,  §§  188,  189 145 

(2)  Spirits  of  Activity:  Indigetes,  §  190 146 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS  IX 

II.   DEIFIED  FORCES  OF  NATURE,  AND  DIVINITIES  CLOSELY 

RELATED    TO    SPIRITS    OF    ACTIVITY. 

PAGE 

(1)  Spring  goddesses,  §  191  ;   River  gods,  §  192  ;   Nep- 

tunus,  §  193 147 

(2)  Janus,  §§  194,  195 ;  Vesta,  §  196 ;  Volcanus,  §  197  ; 

Saturnus,  Census,  and  Ops,  §  198 149 

(3)  Divinities  of  Fruitf  ulness :   Faunus,  §  199 ;  Silvanus, 

Liber,  Yertumnus,  §  200 ;  Fauna,  Feronia,  §  201 ; 
Flora,  Pales,  §  202 ;  Diana,  §  203 153 

(4)  Mars,  §§  204,  205 ;  Quirinus,  §  206 157 

III.  DIVINITIES    OF    THE   HEAVENS:    Juppiter,    §§   207-210; 

Juno,  §§  211,  212 160 

IV.  DIVINITIES  OF  DEATH  :  Orcus,  Mania,  Lara,  §  213      .     .     165 
V.  PERSONIFICATIONS,  §  214 166 

VI.   DIVINITIES  ORIGINALLY  FOREIGN,  §§  215-218    ....     167 

INDEX  .  171 


or  THE 
f  UNIVERSITY    1 


GREEK   AND   KOMAN    MYTHOLOGY 


A.    THE   OEIGIN   OF  MYTHS 
1.   THE  SOUL  AND  THE  WORSHIP  OF  THE  DEAD 

1.  Even  in  the  earliest  stages  of  civilization,  before 
the  human  mind  devoted  any  very  careful  study  to  its 
external  surroundings,  the  instinct  of  self-love  impelled 
man  to  investigate  the  processes  that  he  saw  going  on 
in  himself  and  in  creatures  like  himself.  Sickness  and 
death  were  the  first  to  attract  his  attention;  for  they 
interrupt  the  course  of  everyday  life.  Then  dreams  — 
which  sometimes,  especially  when  attended  by  the  night- 
mare, seem  exceedingly  real  —  suggested  the  existence  of 
beings  which,  though  imperceptible  to  the  senses,  can 
yet  affect  human  life,  now  agreeably,  and  again  disagree- 
ably. These  beings,  accordingly,  came  to  be  regarded  as 
the  authors  of  certain  phenomena,  which  were  apparently 
inexplicable  in  any  other  way.  •  Therefore,  supported  by 
the  universal  inborn  desire  for  the  continuance  of  per- 
sonal life  after  death,  there  grew  up  a  belief  in  the  exist- 
ence of  the  souls  (ghosts)  of  the  dead.  Closely  related 
to  this  was  the  belief  in  elves  or  fairies,  —  a  superstition 

B  1 


2  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

which  even  yet,  in  races  that  have  remained  in  the  lowest 
stages  of  development,  appears  to  be  about  the  only  general 
form  of  faith  extending  beyond  mere  physical  sensations. 
2.  Although  the  Greeks  and  Romans  in  historic  times 
had  long  since  passed  beyond  the  earlier  stages  of  de- 
velopment, yet  all  their  ideas  with  regard  to  sickness, 
death,  and  the  continued  existence  of  the  soul,  were  based 
entirely  upon  the  views  of  that  early  period.  Naturally, 
in  process  of  time,  a  later  series  of  conceptions,  based 
upon  quite  different  hypotheses,  was  intermingled  with 
the  more  primitive  ones;  but  at  all  events  those  seem 
to  be  among  the  most  ancient  which  grew  out  of  the 
principal  characteristics  which  the  dead  had  possessed 
in  life.  As  with  most  of  the  other  Indo-European 
nations,  burial  was  their  earliest  form  of  laying  away 
the  dead;  and  the  grave  itself  was  regarded  as  the 
dwelling  place  of  the  departed  one,  who  still  enjoyed  an 
existence  in  bodily  form.  It  was  customary  to  bury  food 
and  drink,  implements  and  weapons,  with  the  dead ;  and 
originally  a  man's  favorite  wife  and  those  slaves  that 
during  his  life  he  had  considered  essential  to  his  welfare 
were  compelled  to  share  death  and  the  grave  with  him. 
Thus,  as  late  as  the  Iliad,  Achilles  at  the  funeral  of 
Patroclus  is  represented  as  killing  twelve  Trojan  youths, 
probably  with  the  idea  that  he  shall  in  that  way  make 
their  souls  the  slaves  of  his  friend  in  the  next  world. 
After  a  while  the  offering  of  animals  was  substituted  for 
that  of  human  beings ;  yet  the  gladiatorial  combats  also, 
which  were  a  customary  feature  of  funeral  games  at  Rome, 
were  evidently  a  kind  of  substitution  for  the  sacrifice  of 
slaves  or  prisoners.  There  was  a  belief  also  that  the  dead 
as  well  as  the  living  could  enjoy  such  prize  contests. 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  MYTHS  3 

3.  Of  course  it  was  necessary  to  replenish  the  supply 
of  food  and  drink  occasionally ;  consequently  the  worship 
of  the  dead  at  the  tomb  consisted  chiefly  in  the  repeated 
offering  of  the  means  of  subsistence.     The  custom  grew 
up  of  doing  this  on  the  anniversaries  of  the  birth  and 
death  of  the  departed  one,  and  during  the  general  cele- 
brations in  honor  of  the  dead.     Such  occasions  at  Athens 
were  the  Nekysia  or  Nemeseia  on  the  5th  day  of  the  month 
Boedromion  (September-October),  and  the  Cliytroi  on  the 
13th  of  Anthesterion  (February-March) ;  at  Home,  the 
Lemur ia  on  the  9th,  llth,  and  13th  of  May,  and  the  dies 
parentales,  which  were  celebrated  towards  the  close  of  the 
older  Roman  year,  beginning  with  the  13th  of  February, 
and  ending  with  the  Feralia  on  the  21st.    Souls  punished 
neglect  by  sending  sickness  or  death ;    and  so  by  the 
Greeks  they  were  called  Keres,  i.e.  destroyers ;    by  the 
Romans,  Larvae   or  Lemures,  specters.      Therefore,  to 
guard  against  the  evil  influence  of  these  dreaded  beings, 
and  to  prevent  their  return  into  their  former  dwellings, 
all  such  rites  were  resorted  to  as  were  commonly  em- 
ployed in  the  effort  to  avoid  any  other  evil. 

4.  At  this  stage  in  the  development  of  the  idea  souls 
were  believed  to  retain  the  form  and  physical  peculiarities 
of  the  dead  body.     It  was  thought  that  by  an  offering  of 
fresh  blood  (which  is  lacking  after  the  heart  ceases  to 
beat)  they  could  be  temporarily  called  back  to  life,  and 
could  answer  questions,  a  supposition  out  of  which  were 
developed  necromancy  and  the  oracles  of  the  dead.     In 
connection  with  these  oracles  there  appeared  at  a  later 
period  in  Greece  oneiromancy  also  (divination  by  dreams 
ascribed  to  the  deities  of  the  lower  world).     For  it  was 
believed  that  the  god  or  demigod  living  in  the  depths  of 


4  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

the  earth  appeared  personally  in  a  dream  to  those  that 
slept  in  his  sanctuary  (incubatio),  and  gave  them  his 
counsel.  Almost  as  ancient  as  these  conceptions  seems 
to  be  the  idea  that  when  the  soul  departed  from  the 
body  it  assumed  animal  form.  The  serpent  especially,  a 
creature  of  noiseless  and  rapid  movements,  which  often 
lives  in  the  ground,  was  commonly  regarded  as  the  soul 
in  brute  form ;  and  among  other  forms  attributed  to 
souls,  at  least  by  the  Greeks,  were  those  of  bats,  birds, 
and,  later,  butterflies. 

5.  From  the  observation  that  a  dead  body  gradually 
crumbles   away,  the   belief  at   length   became   common 
that  the  dead  are  not  body,  but  spirit;   and  as  people 
saw   that   the   cessation   of   life's    activity   was    coinci- 
dent with  the  expiration  of  the  last  breath,  they  came 
in  time  to  look  upon  the  breath  itself  as   the   funda- 
mental principle  of  life,  i.e.  as  the  soul,  —  a  fact  that  is 
demonstrated  by  the  double  signification  of  i/or^  anima, 
"breath/7  and  similar  words.     Therefore  souls  that  had 
left  the  body  were  imagined  to  be  airy ;  but  still,  on  ac- 
count of  an  intermixture  of  the  earlier  idea,  there  was 
attributed  to  them  a  human  or  animal  form.     So  they 
were  conceived  of  sometimes  as  shadowy  figures  (O-KICU, 
umbrae),  or  smoke-like  phantoms  (etSooAa,  simulacra,  ima- 
gines), sometimes  as  tiny,  winged  creatures  with  human 
form. 

6.  At  Kome,  in  connection  with  the  worship  of  the 
dead,  the  older  conceptions  endured.      In  Greece  also, 
where  they  had  ceased  to  prevail  generally  about  the 
beginning  of  the  seventh  century  B.C.,  they  spread  again 
everywhere  at  a  comparatively  late   period,  under  the 
influence  of  the  Boeotians  and  Dorians,  who  had  not  ad- 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  MYTHS  5 

vanced  beyond  the  corresponding  stage  of  development. 
In  Homer,  on  the  other  hand,  such  ideas  can  be  recog- 
nized only  in  isolated  allusions,  since  in  his  time  the 
later  doctrine  was  already  accepted  among  the  Achaians 
and  lonians,  whose  view  he  represented.  Simultaneously 
among  these  peoples,  from  the  ordinary  characteristics  of 
every  grave,  there  had  grown  up  the  idea  of  a  common 
place  of  abode  for  souls,  subterranean,  naturally,  but 
not  accessible  to  human  beings  through  the  medium  of 
prayers  and  offerings,  an  abode  separated  from  the  world 
above  by  impassable  rivers,  such  as  the  Styx  ('the 
hated 7),  Acheron  ('  river  of  woe '),  Cocy tus  ('  river  of 
lamentation '),  Pyriphlegethon  (<  stream  of  fire '),  and 
Lethe  (( forgetfulness ')  from  which  the  dead  drank  for- 
getfulness. 

7.  As  soon  as  the  dead  had  been  covered  with  earth, 
their  souls,  lingering  on  the  bank  of  the  Styx  or  the 
Acheron,  were  ferried  across  by  the  boatman  Charon. 
As  pay  for  this  service  he  received  an  obolus  (a  small 
coin  worth  3^  cents),  which  customarily  was  laid  under 
the  tongue  of  the  deceased.  Once  down  in  the  lower 
world,  the  dead,  according  to  Homer's  belief,  lived  a 
gloomy,  empty,  shadowy  sort  of  life.  Their  previous 
tastes  and  occupations  were,  indeed,  unchanged;  but 
their  life  was  without  consciousness  and  the  power  to 
effect  any  actual  results.  A  few  individuals,  however, 
who  were  especially  loved  or  hated  by  the  gods,  retained 
consciousness  and  sensation,  that  they  might  be  rewarded 
or  punished  for  their  deeds  done  upon  earth.  From  this 
realm  of  death  there  could  be  no  return ;  to  this  end  the 
three-headed  dog  Cerberus  kept  watch  at  the  entrance, 
which  the  ancients  believed  they  had  discovered  in  vari- 


6  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

ous  places,  e.g.  at  Cichyrus  in  Thesprotia,  Pheneus  in 
Arcadia,  on  the  promontory  Taenarmi)  in  Laconia,  and 
at  Lake  Avernus  near  Cumae.  Charon,  too,  carried  no- 
body back  over  the  Styx.  (The  divinities  that  rule  in  the 
lower  world  are  discussed  in  §§  100-103.) 

8.  Upon  another  conception,  of  later  origin,  rests  the 
idea  of  Elysium,  —  the  field  of  arrival,  or  of  those  that 
have  gone  over  (cf.  €\r}\vOa),  —  which  was  supposed  to  be 
at  the  western  boundary  of  the  earth,  011  Oceanus,  not 
in  the  lower  world.     For,  without  the  necessity  of  first 
suffering  death,  many  of  the  heroes  and  heroines  espe- 
cially dear  to  the  gods,  begotten  from  mortals,  or  other- 
wise nearly  allied  to  divine  beings,  were  carried  off  to 
this   abode,   there   to   enjoy   a  blessed,   godlike   life   of 
pleasure.    With  the  later  poets  the  '  Isles  of  the  Blessed ' 
take  the  place  of  this.     But  not  until  after  the  fifth 
century  B.C.,  with  the  growth  of  a  belief  in  a  retributive 
justice,  was  there  developed  the  idea  of  a  tribunal  of 
the  dead.     According  to  this  idea  an  abode  either  in 
Elysium,  the  home  of   the  blessed,  or  in  Tartarus,  the 
gloomy  place  of  punishment,  the  deepest  abyss  of  the 
lower  world,  is  assigned  to  the  dead  by  Minos,  Khada- 
manthus,  and  Aeacus,  the  decision  in  each  case  depending 
on  the  character  of  the  life  lived  on  earth. 

9.  Among  the  Romans,  in  later  times,  the  souls  of  the 
dead  were  commonly  designated  by  the  flattering  term 
Manes,  i.e.  '  the  Pure/   '  the  Good,'  or  were  called,  in 
general,  inferi,  '  those  of  the  nether  world.'    Each  family 
worshiped  especially  the  spirits  of  its   own   ancestors, 
as   the   del   Inferum  parentum,   or   the   del  parentes   or 
patrii.    Very  strictly,  too,  did  they  preserve  a  conscien- 
tious observance  of  all  the  precepts  applying  to  solemn 


THE  ORIGIN   OF  MYTHS  7 

burial ;  and  even  after  cremation  had  become  the  usual 
custom,  the  old  usages,  which  had  been  based  on  the  idea 
of  interment,  were  never  essentially  altered.  However, 
the  conception  of  a  common  abode  for  souls  never  thor- 
oughly prevailed  at  Rome ;  and,  on  account  of  the  simi- 
larity of  death  to  sleep,  the  later  epitaphs  seem  to 
indicate  a  belief  that  the  dead  slumbered  forever  in  the 
grave,  and  were  free  from  care,  peaceful  and  happy. 
(Of.  Divinities  of  Death,  §  213.) 

Styx  :  Homer,  II.  xiv.  271,  Od.  x.  513:  — 

cv6a  IA£V  els  'Axeptivra  HvpupXeytdwv  re  ptovviv 
Kt6Acur6s  0',  6s  drj  Zriryos  vdards  ea-rtv  d,Troppu%» 

Ovid,  Met.  iii.  76,  Ars  Amat.  i.  635,  ii.  41 ;  Vergil,  Geor.  iv.  480 ; 
Milton,  Par.  L.  ii.  577  :  — 

Abhorred  Styx,  the  flood  of  deadly  hate ; 
Sad  Acheron,  of  sorrow,  black  and  deep; 
Cocytus,  named  of  lamentations  loud 
Heard  on  the  rueful  stream ;  fierce  Phlegethon, 
Whose  waves  of  torrent  fire  inflame  with  rage. 

Pope,  Thebais  i.  411 :  - 

For  by  the  black  infernal  Styx  I  swear, 

(That  dreadful  oath  which  binds  the  thunderer) ; 

Ode  on  St.  Cecilia's  Day  90 :  — 

Tho'  fate  had  fast  bound  her 
With  Styx  nine  times  round  her. 

Shak.,  Troilus  and  Cressida  v.  4,  20 ;  Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  i.  37. 

Acheron  :  Homer,  Od.  x.  513  ;  Vergil,  Aen.  vi.  295  ;  Spenser, 
F.  Q.  i.  v.  33 ;  Milton,  Par.  L.  ii.  577. 

Cocytus :  Vergil,  Geor.  iii.  38,  iv.  479,  Aen.  vi.  297,  323 ;  Pope, 
Thebais  i.  419  :  — 

Whose  ghost  yet  shivering  on  Cocytus'  sand 
Expects  its  passage  to  the  further  strand. 

Shak. ,  Titus  Andronicus  ii.  3,  236  :  — 

As  hateful  as  Cocytus'  misty  mouth. 
Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  i.  37. 


8  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Pyriphlegethon :  Ovid,  Met.  v.  544 ;  Vergil,  Aen.  vi.  551 ; 
Pope,  Ode  on  St.  Cecilia's  Day  50  :  - 

Th'  infernal  bounds, 
Which  flaming  Phlegethon  surrounds. 

Lethe  :  Ovid,  Trist.  iv.  1,  47  :  - 

Utque  soporiferae  liberem  si  pocula  Lethes, 
Temporis  adversi  sic  mini  sensus  hebet. 

Vergil,  Aen.  vi.  705,  714;  Tennyson,  In  Memoriam  xliii. :  — 

And  in  the  long  harmonious  years 
(If  Death  so  taste  Lethean  springs) 
May  some  dim  touch  of  earthly  things 

Surprise  thee  ranging  with  thy  peers. 

Milton,  Par.  L.  ii.  583  :  - 

Lethe,  the  river  of  oblivion,  rolls 
Her  wat'ry  labyrinth,  whereof  who  drinks 
Forthwith  his  former  state  and  being  forgets, 
Forgets  both  joy  and  grief,  pleasure  and  pain. 

Shak.,  King  Henry  IV.  pt.  ii.  v.  2,  72,  King  Richard  III.  iv.  4,  250  ; 
Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  iii.  36. 

Charon  :  Vergil,  Aen.  vi.  298  :  - 

Portitor  has  horrendus  aquas  et  flumina  servat 
Terribili  squalore  Charon. 

Pope,  Dunciad  iii.  19  :  — 

Taylor,  their  better  Charon,  lends  an  oar. 
Swift,  A  Quibbling  Elegy  on  Judge  Boat :  — 

Our  Boat  is  now  sail'd  to  the  Stygian  ferry, 
There  to  supply  old  Charon's  leaky  wherry; 
Charon  in  him  will  ferry  souls  to  Hell ; 
A  trade  our  Boat  has  practised  here  so  well. 

Shak.,  Troilus  and  Cressida  iii.  2,  11. 

Cerberus :  The  conception  of  a  dog  guarding  the  lower  world 
is  very  old.  In  the  Rig  Veda  there  are  frequent  allusions  to  the 
offspring  of  Sarama,  the  bitch  of  Indra,  who  conduct  to  the  other 
world  those  whom  Yama  summons.  In  Vendidad,  xiii.  9  of  the 
Avesta,  dogs  are  represented  as  sentinels  of  the  other  world.  In 
the  Funeral  hymn,  another  portion  of  which  is  cited  below,  the 
dogs  appear  in  one  stanza  in  a  hostile  attitude,  in  the  others  as 
kind  to  those  whom  they  conduct.  They  are  mentioned  in  Rig 
Veda  vii.  55,  2-3,  x.  14,  10.  Rig  Veda  x.  14 :  — 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  MYTHS  9 

10.  Run  past  the  two  dogs,  offspring  of  Sarama,  four-eyed,  brinded, 
by  a  straight  path.     Then  go  unto  the  fathers,  kindly  noticing,  who 
with  Yama  revel  in  common  revel. 

11.  These  dogs  which  are  thine,  the  guardians,  O  Yama,  four-eyed, 
guarding  the  path,  men-beholding,  to  them  give  over  this  (man),  O 
king,  for  well-being  and  to  him  extend  weal. 

Vergil,  Geor.  iv.  483  :  — 

Tenuitque  inhians  tria  Cerberus  ora. 

Ovid,  Her.  ix.  93,  Met.  iv.  449,  ix.  185  ;  Milton,  L' Allegro  1 :  — 
Hence  loathed  Melancholy 
Of  Cerberus  and  blackest  Midnight  born. 

Shak.,  King  Henry  IV.  pt.  ii.  ii.  4,  182,  Troilus  and  Cressida  ii.  1, 
37  ;  Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  v.  34. 

Elysium :  Hesiod,  Works  and  Days  170  ;  Pindar,  01.  ii.  67  sq. ; 
Vergil,  Geor.  i.  38,  Aen.  vi.  637  sq.  ;  Shak.,  Cymbeline  v.  4,  117  :  - 

More  sweet  than  our  blessed  fields ; 
Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona  ii.  7,  38,  Twelfth  Night  i.  2,  4. 

Tartarus :  Horner,  Od.  xi.  passim ;  Ovid,  Fast.  iv.  605 ;  Ver- 
gil, Aen.  vi.  577. 

Minos :  Homer,  II.  xiii.  450 ;  Ovid,  Met.  viii.  6  sq. ,  Her.  xv. 
347  ;  Vergil,  Aen.  vi.  432  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xl.-xliv. 

Aeacus:  Homer,  II.  xxi.  189;  Ovid,  Met.  vii.  471  sq.;  Horace, 
Od.  ii.  13,  22  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  Hi. 

Manes  :  The  following  is  translated  from  the  tenth  book  of  the 
Rig  Veda.  Although  the  hymn  is  acknowledged  to  be  much  later 
than  other  portions  of  the  Rig  Veda,  yet  the  stanzas  given  are  un- 
doubtedly of  very  ancient  date.  They  will  be  interesting  to  show 
the  early  ancestor-worship  among  the  Indo-European  peoples. 

Yama,  father  of  mankind  and  king  of  departed  souls,  waits  to 
receive  the  dead  into  his  kingdom  of  light.  Roth  has  made  an  in- 
teresting comparison  between  the  Sanskrit  Yama  and  the  Avestan 
Yima.  Yama  is  the  son  of  Vivasvant ;  so  Yima.  Yama  is  called 
"  Gatherer  of  peoples"  ;  so  Yima  in  Vendidad  ii.  21  of  the  Avesta 
makes  a  "gathering  of  men."  Yama  is  the  first  mortal  to  reach 
heaven  and  gathers  the  blessed  to  himself.  Rig  Veda  x.  14  :  — 

1.  The  one  gone  forth  over  the  great  heights,  the  one  pointing  out 
the  path  to  many,  |  the  son  of  Vivasvant,   the  gatherer  of  peoples, 
Yama  the  king,  him  worship  with  an  oblation. 

2.  Yama  was  the  first  to  find  a  refuge  for  us:  this  (heavenly)  past- 
ure is  not  to  be  taken  from  us :   |  whither  our  fathers  of  old  have  gone, 
thither  the  children  are  going  along  their  pathways. 


10         GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 


7.  Go  forth,  go  forth  by  the  ancient  paths  whither  our  fathers  of  old 
have  gone.  |  Both  kings  exhilarated  with  the  sweet  oblation,  Yama  and 
heavenly  Varuna  thou  wilt  see. 

8.  Meet  with  the  fathers,  with  Yama,  with  the  reward  (in  store  for 
thee)  in  highest  heaven.  |  Leaving  what  is  sinful  come  back  home : 
possessing  full  life  meet  a  (new)  body. 

9.  Go  away  (ye  mourners),  go  apart  and  disperse  from  here.    The 
fathers  have  made  this  place  for  him,  |  adorned  with  days,  with  waters, 
with  nights.    Yama  gives  to  him  a  resting-place. 


2.    ORIGIN  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  CONCEPTION  OF 
THE  DIVINITIES  OF  NATURE 

10.  The  inborn  impulse  in  man  to  endeavor  to  compre- 
hend the  causal  connection  of  all  phenomena  observed 
by  him  could  not  long  confine  itself  to  the  events  that 
concern  his  own  person.  Before  long  he  began  to  con- 
sider also  the  world  of  nature,  in  which  he  lives,  and 
whose  influence  he  feels.  A  child  attributes  the  property 
of  life  to  the  objects  surrounding  him,  as  soon  as  they 
appear  to  exert  any  active  influence.  So,  by  one  who 
is  as  yet  but  a  simple  child  of  nature,  everything  that 
exerts  any  power  is  regarded  as  endowed  with  life, 
because  activity,  in  connection  with  its  own  peculiar 
motion  and  productiveness,  appears  to  him  as  the  chief 
characteristic  of  a  living  being.  Soon,  however,  he  per- 
ceives that  the  apparent  activity  belonging  to  things 
without  life  is  frequently  produced  by  living  beings  hid- 
den from  view.  Through  this  experience  he  reaches  the 
point  of  presupposing  in  general  for  every  exercise  of 
power  a  living  being  as  the  author,  upon  whose  particu- 
lar form  and  fashion  he  decides  according  to  the  nature 
of  the  operation  of  the  force  in  each  case.  Thus  fancy 
gradually  peopled  the  whole  world  of  nature  in  which 
man  lived  —  so  far  as  activity,  motion,  and  productive- 


THE  ORIGIN   OF  MYTHS  11 

ness  were  observed  —  with  a  countless  number  of  living 
beings,  which  may  be  called  divinities  of  nature.  These, 
like  the  beings  which  the  human  imagination  had  in 
a  similar  manner  created  out  of  souls,  could  not  be 
directly  perceived  by  the  senses,  and  so  the  two  kinds 
of  supersensual  beings  were  easily  compared  with  each 
other.  The  natural  result  was  that  the  peculiarities 
of  the  beings  developed  from  souls,  having  been  already 
determined,  were  transferred  to  the  divinities  of  nature. 

11.  Now,  if   the   observed   exercise  of  power  in  any 
process  of  nature  is  mightier  and  of  longer  duration  than 
can  come  from  an  ordinary  human  being  or  animal,  the 
presupposed   author   is   exalted   above   the   measure    of 
man  or  beast,  as  regards  might  and  duration  of   life. 
Moreover,  according   as   this   power   appears  hostile  or 
friendly,  strong   or   gentle,   active   or   passive,  towards 
mankind,   so   in   each   case   there   is   attributed   to   the 
being  whose  action  is  supposed  to  be  thus  manifested  a 
friendly,  or  an  unfriendly  disposition,  and  masculine  or 
feminine  gender. 

12.  These   divinities   of  nature,   whose   identity  was 
preserved  among  the  Greeks  in  the  multitudes  of  river 
gods,  centaurs,  nymphs,  nereids,  satyrs,  etc.,  were  essen- 
tially different  from  the  gods  proper.     For,  during  the 
stage  of  belief  in  such   divinities,  an   exhibition   of   a 
given  force  is  not  attributed  to  some  being  that  always 
produces  similar  results  in  similar  objects ;  but,  rather, 
every  object  of  nature  exhibiting  signs  of  the  activity 
of  life  is  supposed  to  be  inhabited  and  preserved  by  a 
special  divinity  of  its  own.     The  transition  from  belief 
in  the  minor  divinities  to  belief  in  gods. always  follows 
first  in  the  sphere  in  which  strict  distinctions  of  place 


12  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

and  object  are  not  noticed,  i.e.  in  the  case  of  the  divini- 
ties that  work  in  the  heavens  and  the  air.  For,  in  the 
case  of  storms,  winds,  clouds,  sun,  and  moon,  it  cannot 
be  decided  whether  the  same  phenomenon  is  constantly 
repeated,  or  whether  various,  yet  similar,  phenomena 
follow  each  other. 

13.  With  the  uniting  of  individual  families  into  races 
and  states,  the  divinities  that  have  in  a  certain  sense 
been  independently  created  by  each  family  can  for  the 
first  time  rise  to  the  dignity  of  gods  generally  recog- 
nized and  clearly  conceived  of  as  individual  beings  by 
the  mass  of  the  people.    For,  until  then,  the  real  identity 
of  various  individual  conceptions  cannot  be  discovered; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  not  until  this  stage  of  prog- 
ress that  the  spirit  of  an  ancestor  of  a  ruling  family  can 
become  the  hero  of  a  race. 

14.  When,  at  length,  in  the  progress  of  civilization  and 
culture,  the  superiority  of  spiritual  power  over  everything 
physical  is  recognized,  the  gods  become  more  and  more 
spiritualized.     As  they  are  stripped  of  the  sensual  char- 
acteristics of  animals  or  human  beings,  they  gradually 
develop  more  or  less  completely  into   purely   spiritual 
deities,  defenders  of  morals  and  the  moral  laws,  which 
have  meanwhile  grown  up  among  mankind  under  divine 
direction.      Such  beings  as  these  were  the  gods  of  the 
Greeks  and  the  Romans  in  the  best  period  in  the  life 
of  those  peoples.     Not  until  the  gods  are  recognized  in 
this   light   can    the    independent    deification    of    abstract 
ideas  begin ;   but  after  such  recognition  it  is  no  longer 
a  necessary  requisite  for  the  creation  of  a  personality 
that   there    should   be    an   activity    perceptible   by    the 
senses.     It  cannot,  however,  be  denied  that  there  is  a 


THE  ORIGIN   OF  MYTHS  13 

sort  of  spiritual  action  in  such  figures  as  Ate  ('infatu- 
ation '),  Apate  ('  deception  '),  Dike  ('  justice  '),  Theinis 
('law'),  Irene  (' peace7),  and  Nike  ('victory'),  which  are 
found  even  in  the  oldest  Greek  poets. 

3.    ORIGIN  OF  THE  WORSHIP  OF  THE  GODS 

15.  Since  man  can  conceive  of  all  supernatural  beings 
only  as  superior  personalities  made  after  his  own  image, 
he  endeavors  to   influence   them   in   the   same   manner 
as  in  the  case  of  powerful  human  beings.      He  shows 
them   his   reverence   by   approaching   them   in    humble 
posture,  with  purified  body  and  clean  raiment.     He  begs 
for  their  favor,  and,  if   they  are  displeased,  for  their 
indulgence  or  pardon.     He  presents  them  with  the  best 
of  what  he   himself   possesses,   in   order  to   insure   for 
himself  their  good  will,  to  express  his  thanks  for  bene- 
fits received,  or  to  atone  and  make  expiation  for  any 
offence  toward  them. 

16.  Such  is  the  origin  of  the  three  principal  forms  of 
worship,  —  purification,  prayer,  and  sacrifice.    To  express 
humble  reverence  and  submissiveness  one  would  either 
actually  cast  himself  down  upon  the  ground  (irpoo-Kwclv, 
supplicare),  or  at  least  stretch  out   his   upturned   palm 
toward  the  abode,  or  the  image,  of  the  divinity.     Men 
sometimes   confined   themselves  with   chains   or  bands, 
that  thus  they  might  surrender  themselves  entirely  help- 
less into  the  divine  hands.     For  the  same  reason,  at  a 
later  period,  in  the  performance  of  every  holy  act  they 
wound  bands  (rati/tat,  taeniae,  vittae)  around  their  heads, 
just  as  they  did  around  the  sacrificial  animals  and  other 
objects  consecrated  to  the  gods.     The  word  religio,  in- 
deed,  signifies    properly   that   relation   of   being   bound 


14  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

which  one  sustains  toward  a  divinity,  —  the  obligation  or 
duty  which  one  feels  toward  him. 

17.  All  purification  (lustratio,  from  lud,  Ka0ap/xds)  relates 
originally  to  the  body ;  and  water  is  the  chief  requisite  in 
connection  with  it.  Purification  was,  accordingly,  con- 
sidered especially  necessary  in  case  of  a  murder  attended 
with  bloodshed,  or  of  touching  a  dead  person,  though  the 
idea  of  deliverance  from  guilt  was  not  at  first  associated 
with  it.  For  this  purpose  water  from  the  sea  or  from 
a  spring  was  preferred,  because  neither  of  these  remains 
impure.  Prayer  is  properly  a  simple  request,  the  effect 
of  which,  however,  can  be  heightened  by  the  addition  of 
a  promise  or  a  vow  (e^x7??  votum).  Prescribed  formulas 
were  employed  only  because  their  success  seemed  to 
have  shown  that  they,  more  than  other  words,  were 
efficacious  in  influencing  the  gods  to  grant  the  desire 
expressed. 

18.  Anything  that  is  likely  to  please  a  divinity  may 
be  offered  as  a  gift  (avdOrj/jLa).    Appropriate  gifts  would  be, 
first,  such  objects  as  are  used  in  acts  of  worship  or  for 
the  adornment  of  a  temple ;  secondly,  such  as  possess  a 
particular  value  for  the  person  offering  them.     But  the 
most  common  of  all  gifts  to  the  gods  was  the  offering  of 
food  and  drink.     Such  offerings  consisted  of  all  the  things 
that  please  the  taste  of  man  himself ;  for  originally  physi- 
cal enjoyment  was  presupposed  even  in  the  case'  of  the 
gods.     At  a  later  time,  by  the  burning  of  the  offering,  the 
vapor  and  smoke,  at  least,  exhaling  an  agreeable  odor,  were 
made  to  ascend  to  the  realm  of  the  celestials. 

19.  Finally,  as  men  gave  expression  to  their  will  by 
signs  or  words,  the  effort  was  made  to  discover  the  will 
of  the  gods  in  omens  (re/oara,  ostenta),  such  as  lightning, 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  MYTHS  15 

rainbows,  eclipses  of  the  sun  and  moon,  and  the  flight 
of  birds,  or  to  learn  it  from  significant  words  and  sounds 
((fry/man,  K/V^SoVe?,  omind).  From  the  omens  were  devel- 
oped in  Greece  the  sign  oracles  of  Zeus ;  in  Italy,  the 
auspicia  and  the  whole  science  of  the  augurs.  From 
the  words  and  sounds  arose  the  oracular  responses  of 
Apollo.  The  inspection  of  the  liver  and  other  entrails 
of  slain  sacrificial  animals  grew  up  later  out  of  the  gen- 
eral requirement  that  an  animal  for  sacrifice  must  be 
healthy  and  unblemished. 


B.    THE   GEEEK   GODS 
I.    THE   DIVINITIES   OF   THE   HEAVENS 

1.   REPRESENTATIVES  OF  THE  PHENOMENA   OF   THE 
THUNDERSTORM 

20.  The  most  tremendous  phenomenon  in  nature,  and 
the  first  to  attract  the  attention  of  mankind,  is  the 
thunderstorm.  As  this  can  be  better  compared  to  a 
violently  raging  battle  than  to  any  other  event  occurring 
on  earth,  it  was  first  conceived  of  as  a  battle  in  which 
Zeus,  the  god  of  thunder  and  lightning,  Athena,  the 
goddess  of  lightning,  the  other  Olympian  gods  that  were 
friendly  toward  mankind,  and  the  demigod,  Hercules, 
are  all  arrayed  against  the  monsters  of  the  thunder- 
storm, the  Gigantes  (<  Giants ').  The  latter,  like  the  Cy- 
clopes ('  Cyclops '),  are  in  the  Odyssey  imagined  to  be  an 
earthly  race  of  giants,  living  in  the  far  west,  hurling 
rocks  for  missiles,  a  race  which  is  annihilated  by  the 
gods  for  its  arrogance ;  but  the  later  tradition,  as  in 
some  other  cases,  seems  to  have  preserved  the  earlier 
form.  Accordingly  in  the  art  of  the  Hellenistic  period, 
particularly,  for  example,  on  the  frieze  of  the  altar  of 
Pergamum  (now  in  the  Berlin  museum),  they  are  repre- 
sented with  serpentine  feet  (lightning?).  Originally 
Phlegra,  the  place  of  burning,  was  commonly  mentioned 

16 


THE  GREEK  GODS  17 

as  the  battle  ground ;  by  which,  probably,  the  glowing, 
illuminated  sky  is  to  be  understood;  later  the  scene  of 
combat  was  removed  to  the  peninsula  (or  the  Attic  deme) 
Pallene  ;  finally,  to  Cumae,  in  Italy. 

21.  From  a  different  point  of  view,  however,  the  fall 
thunderstorms,    breaking    forth    after   the    dry   harvest 
time,  were  probably  looked  upon  as  a  battle   between 
the  fructifying  thunder  god  Zeus  and   his   father,  the 
sun  god  Cronus,  who  at  the  height  of  summer  brought 
on  the  harvest  and  caused  the  luxuriant  vegetation  of 
spring  to  dry  up.     It  is  clear  that  Cronus  was  the  sun 
god  from  his  epithet,  Titan;  and  as  in  this  contest  other 
gods,  according  to  the  poets,  were  ranged  beside  Zeus 
as  comrades  for  the  fight,  so  there  appeared  on  the  side 
of  Cronus,  under  the  term  Titanes  ('  Titans '),  a  series  of 
names  of  beings  of  light,  the  meaning  of  which  names, 
though  appreciated  in  early  worship,  after  a  while  largely 
faded   away.     With  the   help   of   the   Cyclops  ('round- 
eyed')   Arges   (' bright  lightning'),   Brontes  (( thunder') 
and   Steropes   ('dazzling -eyed'),  —  whose  single   round 
eyes  are  the  lightning, — they  were  vanquished  and  hurled 
down  into  Tartarus,  the  deepest  part  of  the  lower  world. 

22.  To  these  conflicts  of  Zeus  was  added,  later,  that 
against   Typhoeus,  or  Typhon  ('the  smoking,  steaming 
one').     In  him  we  have  an  embodiment  (perhaps  origi- 
nating in  Asia  Minor)  of  the  steam  and  smoke  breaking 
from  the  earth  in  connection  with  earthquakes,  and  out 
of  volcanoes,  as  well  as  of  the  mighty  power  working 
in  those  phenomena.     Although  he  was   armed  with  a 
hundred  serpent  heads  darting  forth  fire,  he,  like  the 
Titans,  was  cast  down  by  Zeus  into  Tartarus.     All  this 
is  a  picture  of  the  apparent  conflict  between  the  thunder- 


18  GREEK  AND  ROMAN   MYTHOLOGY 

storm  accompanying  every  volcanic  eruption  and  those 
mighty  forces  of  the  depths  which,  at  the  end  of  the 
eruption,  seem  to  sink  back  through  the  crater  into  the 
interior  of  the  earth. 

23.  The  victor  in  all  these  battles,  the   mighty  god 
of  the  thunderstorm,  a   god,  however,  kindly  disposed 
toward  mankind,  who  sends  down  the  fructifying  rain,  is 
Zeus   (Lat.  Juppiter).      The  stem  of  this  name,  which 
appears  in  the  genitive  Ai(f)o's,  goes  back,  like  the  Indian 
Dyaus,  the  German  Ziu,  and  the  Latin  Juppiter  (which 
is  composed  of  Diovis  or  Jovis  and  pater),  to  the  root 
div  ('  sky ') ;    i.e.  the  name  of  the  god  of  the  thunder- 
storm   is    derived   from    the    sky   itself,   of   which   the 
thunderstorm  is  a  principal  phenomenon.     Correspond- 
ing  to   this   idea,  the   chief   attribute  of   Zeus,  who  is 
further  characterized  as  the  lightning  god  by  the  epithets 
Keraunios  and  Kataibates,  is  the  lightning  itself;   and 
closely  connected  with  this  is  the  Aegis  ('  goatskin'),  a 
representation  of  the  thundercloud  surrounded  by  ser- 
pentine lightning,  which  is  usually  pictured  in  later  times 
as  a  shaggy  skin  with  a  border  of  serpents. 

24.  The  victor  in  the  battle  of  the  storm  came  to  be 
regarded  as  a  powerful  ruler  of  earthly  combats  (Zeus 
Agetor,  Stratios,  Areios),  who  held  victory  (VLKTJ)  in  his 
hand ;  a  conception  which  led  Phidias  to  place  the  winged 
Kike  on  the  outstretched  hand  of  his  statue  of  the  Olym- 
pian Zeus.     In  his  son  Ares  this  side  of  Zeus's  nature  was 
developed  into  a  god  of  war  pure  and  simple.     On  ac- 
count of  the  rain  that  falls  during  a  thunderstorm,  Zeus 
appears,  on  the  other  hand,  as  a  rain  dispenser  bestowing 
fertility  (Hyetios,  Ombrios).     In  this  capacity  he  begot 
from  his  sister  Demeter,  who  is  the  female  representative 


THE  GREEK  GODS  19 

of  the  productive  force  of  the  cornfield,  Persephone  (Lat. 
Proserpina),  the  subterranean  protectress,  and  representa- 
tive, of  the  seed  corn.  The  same  idea  is  expressed  in  the 
theogonic  poetry  by  the  relation  of  Uranus  ('  heaven ') 
to  Gaea  ('earth').  In  similar  manner,  according  to  an 
Argive  legend,  Zeus  was  united  with  Danae  under  the 
guise  of  golden  rain,  and,  according  to  a  Thebaii  legend, 
with  Semele,  who  died  in  his  embrace  when,  at  her  re- 
quest, he  approached  her  as  he  approaches  Hera,  i.e.  as 
the  god  of  the  thunderstorm. 

25.  Zeus  is  also  collector  of  the  clouds  (Nephelegeretes) 
and  god  of  the  winds  (Euanemos  and  Urios).     As  such, 
however,  he  afterwards  has  associated  with  him  Hermes, 
his  son  born  of  Maia  (Pleias),  the  goddess  of  the  rain 
cloud.      To  Zeus  belong  prodigies,  birds  of  omen,  and 
especially   thunder   and  lightning  themselves,  and  the 
eagle  darting  down  upon  its  prey  like  a  flash  of  lightning 
out  of  the  clouds ;  and  so  he  becomes  a  most  important 
oracular  god.     The  oak  is  sacred  to  him  probably  because 
it  is  an  especially  tall  tree    and  is  therefore  frequently 
struck  by  lightning. 

26.  As  thunderclouds  settle  about  the  mountain  peaks, 
so  Zeus  as  AJcraios  or  Korypliaios  makes  his  dwelling 
place  upon  them,  his  chief  abodes  being  on  Olympus  on 
the  borders  of  Thessaly  and  Macedonia,  and  on  Lycaeus 
in  Arcadia  (which  also  is  often  called  Olympus).      On_ 
Mount  Lycaeus  human  beings  were  offered  to  him.     The 
legendary   founder   of    this   form   of   worship,   Lycaon, 
was  said  to  have  slain  here  his  own  son,  or  grandson, 
and  placed  him  before  Zeus  as  a  repast,  i.e.  offered  him 
up.      In  punishment  for  this  act  he  was  changed  into 
a  wolf. 


20  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

27.  From  his  being  the  mightiest  god  the  idea  devel- 
oped  that    Zeus   was   also   the   highest    god    (Hypatos, 
Hypsistos).      From   his   mountain  summit,  like    a   king 
from  his  castle,  he  rules  the  surrounding  country  under 
the  appellation  of  Zeus  Basileus.     As  a  symbol  of  his 

^dominion  he  bears  the  scepter;  he  protects  justice  and 
all  pious  men,  and  punishes  every  wrong,  especially  per- 
j  ury  (Zeus  Horkios),  and  any  injury  to  a  guest  (Z.  Xenios) 
or  to  one  seeking  protection  (Z.  Hikesios).  It  lies  in 
his  power  to  grant  expiation  of  guilt,  and  purification 
(Z.  Katliarsios)  (cf.  Apollo).  To  him,  therefore,  as  the 
protector  of  hearth  and  home  (Z.  Herkeios),  the  father 
of  the  family  offered  sacrifices  ;  and  to  the  same  god, 
in  his  capacity  of  protector  of  the  family  (GenetJilios), 
the  head  of  the  family  sacrificed ;  and  many  ruling  fami- 
lies claimed  to  derive  their  origin  from  him  as  their 
ancestor. 

28.  Side  by  side  with  the  king  of  the  gods  stands  their 
queen  Hera,  who,  like  Juno,  the  goddess  associated  with 
Juppiter  (the  ruling  lightning  god  of  Italy),  is  probably 
to  be  regarded  as  the  moon  goddess  and  queen  of  the 
night.      In    Argos,    where    Hera   was    held    in    special 
honor,   Hebe   (<  the   bloom   of    youth ?)   was   considered 
the  fruit  of   the  union  of  this  royal  pair.     Ares,  also, 
the  war   god,  and  Hephaestus,  the   lightning  god,  are 
their  children.     As  the  masculine  counterpart  of  Hebe 
appears  Ganymedes  (son  of  Tros  or  Laomedon),  whom, 
on  account  of  his  beauty,  Zeus  caused  to  be  kidnaped 
by  an  eagle,  and  to  be  made  his  cupbearer  and  favor- 
ite ;   for,  like  Ganymedes,  Hebe  too  offers  to  the  gods 
ambrosia  and  nectar;  indeed  she  sometimes  even  bears 
the  name  Ganymeda. 


THE  GREEK  GODS  21 

29.  Local   traditions   associated  Zeus  with  numerous 
other  goddesses  and  heroines   representing   the   moon : 
at  Dodona  with  Dione,  a  name  which  might,  of  course, 
in  some  old  worship  have  belonged  to  Hera  herself ;  at 
other  places,  with  Selene,  Europa,  and  Antiope.     From 
the  'dark,  beautif ul-haired '  Leto  (Lat.  Latona)  he  begot 
the  sun  god  Apollo  and  the  moon  goddess  Artemis;  from 
Leda,  whom  he  approached  in  the  form  of  a  swan,  the 
moon  heroine  Helena  ('  Helen ')  and  the  hero  of  light  Pol- 
lux.   Again,  Alcumena,  whose  origin  was  in  the  race  of  the 
Ferse'ides  ('  shining  ones '),  became  by  him  the  mother  of 
Hercules.     But  whether  all  these  last-mentioned  spouses 
may  be  regarded  as  moon  heroines  is  doubtful. 

30.  The  symbolizing  poets  have  special  regard  to  the 
moral  side  of  the  nature  of  Zeus,  which  afterwards  came 
into  prominence,  when  they  designate  Metis  ('  wisdom 7) 
and  Themis  ('law')  as  his  wives,  and  represent  him  as 
begetting  from  the  latter  the  Horae,  Eunomia  ('lawful- 
ness '),  Dike  ('  justice '),  and  Irene  ('  peace ;),  as  well  as  the 
Moerae  ('  goddesses  of  fate '),  who  order  human  life.     On 
similar  grounds  he  figures  as  the  father  of  the  Graces  and 
Muses.    Finally,  the  legend  of  the  birth  and  death  of  Zeus 
is  based  on  a  Cretan  local  worship.     Here  his  father  is 
the  sun  god  Cronus,  who  devours  his  own  children.     But 
Cronus's  spouse  Rhea  (a  form  of  Ma,  the  mother  of  the 
gods,  closely  related  to  Cybele  and  Artemis,  who  were 
worshiped  in  Asia  Minor),  instead  of  giving  him  Zeus, 
hands  him  a  stone,  which  was  swallowed  forthwith.    Zeus, 
however,  being  suckled  by  the  she-goat  Amalthea  (who 
represents  the  thundercloud,  which  dispenses  nourishing 
moisture),  grows  rapidly  in  a  cave  of  Mount  Ida  until  he 
is  in  condition  to  overpower  his  father.     (See  §  21.) 


22  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

31.  In  accordance  with  the  conception  prevailing  in 
Homer,  Phidias  fashioned  the  artistically  ideal  figure  of 
Zeus  about  432  B.C.  for  the  temple  at  Olympia,  where  the 
great  national  games  were  celebrated  in  his  honor.     The 
ancients  believed  that  during  the  work  there  had  been 
before  the  mind's  eye  of  the  artist  the  words  of  the  Iliad 
(i.  528  sq.):- 

"  He  spoke,  and  awful  bends  his  sable  brows, 
Shakes  his  ambrosial  curls,  and  gives  the  nod, 
The  stamp  of  fate  and  sanction  of  the  god  : 
High  heaven  with  trembling  the  dread  signal  took, 
And  all  Olympus  to  the  centre  shook." 

(Pope's  translation.) 

But  Lysippus  (about  338  B.C.)  is  regarded  as  the  creator 
of  the  most  common  type  in  the  representations  of  Zeus 
in  the  art  of  later  times,  a  type  of  which  a  noble  example 
appears  in  the  mask  of  Otricoli. 

32.  To  a  much  smaller  sphere  than  Zeus  is  his  son,  the 
lightning  god  Hephaestus  (Lat.  Volcanus),  confined,  who 
probably  was  originally  peculiar  to  a  different  Grecian 
tribe  from  that  in  which  the  worship  of  Zeus  prevailed. 
He  was  born  of  Hera  during  a  quarrel  with  Zeus  (i.e.  in 
a  thunderstorm) ;  but  since  he  was  lame  (i.e.  moved  with 
a  short,  quick  motion,  like  the  lightning),  his  mother 
herself  flung  him  down  into  the  sea  (a  figurative  expres- 
sion for  the  descending  lightning),  where,  in  a  cave,  con- 
cealed for  nine  years,  he  was  nursed  by  the  sea,  goddesses 
Thetis  and  Eurynome.     The  latter  part  of  this  legend 
doubtless  refers  to  that  part  of  the  year  in  which  the 
lightning  seems  to  be  hidden  away  somewhere  in  the 
cloudy  vault  of  the  heavens.     He  is  conducted  back  to 
heaven  by  Dionysus,  i.e.  in  the  spring;  here  he  cleaves 


THE  GREEK  GODS  23 

the  head  of  Zeus  by  a  stroke  of  his  axe  (lightning) ; 
amid  loud  cries  of  victory  (thunder)  the  goddess  of  the 
thunderstorm,  Pallas  Athena,  springs  forth,  —  evidently 
a  tale  in  which  the  phenomena  occurring  at  the  cleav- 
ing of  a  thundercloud  by  lightning  have  been  attributed 
to  the  different  divinities  of  the  thunderstorm. 

33.  Out  of   regard   to   the   fructifying   power  of   the 
spring  thunderstorms,  Charis,  the  goddess  of  spring,  is 
represented  as  being  wedded  to  Hephaestus,  according  to 
the  Iliad ;  in  the  Odyssey,  however,  he  is  the  husband  of 
Aphrodite,  the  goddess  of  love  and  fertility.     After  the 
invention  of  the  art  of  working  metal  by  the  aid  of  fire, 
the  phenomena  of  the  thunderstorm  were  compared  to 
the  work  in  a  forge,  and  so  Hephaestus  became  the  smith 
of  the  gods,  with  hammer,  tongs,  cap,  and  short  working 
garment,  who  made  weapons  and  ornaments  for  the  im- 
mortals.   Then  when  the  Greeks  became  acquainted  with 
the  burning  mountain  on  Lemnos  and  the  volcanoes  of 
Sicily  and   the   Liparian   islands,  they  transferred  the 
forge  of  Hephaestus  to  these  mountains,  and  called  the 
Cyclops  his  comrades.     The  story  now  ran  thus  :  because 
he  had  sided  with  his  mother  Hera  in  her  quarrel  with 
her  husband,  he  was  thrown  down  from  Heaven  upon 
the  island  Lemnos.     This  forthwith  became  one  of  the 
principal  seats  of  his  worship,  a  worship  which  blended 
with  that   of  the  oriental   Cabiri   ('  great   gods '),  who 
were  worshiped  there  and  were  in  their  nature  related 
to  him. 

34.  Another  god  of  lightning  and  fire,  originally,  like 
Hephaestus,  is  Prometheus  ('man  of  forethought'),  who 
purloined  fire  from  the  gods,  in  order  to   give  life,  as 
well  as  fire,  to  the  human  beings  that  he  had  formed  out 


24  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

of  clay.  Though  he  had  previously  been  a  friend  of 
Zeus,  he  was  now,  in  punishment  for  his  deed,  chained 
to  a  rock  on  Caucasus  and  tortured  by  an  eagle  which 
fed  on  his  liver.  It  is  Hephaestus  who  creates  Pan- 
dora ('  endowed  by  alP),  the  first  woman,  through  whom, 
according  to  the  familiar  story  of  Pandora's  box,  all 
evils  come  upon  the  race  of  men  created  by  Prome- 
theus. 

35.  With  these  gods  of  the   thunderstorm,  who  are 
principally  the  embodiments  of  the  lightning  flash,  are 
intimately  associated  a  series  of  female  divinities  of  the 
thunderstorm,  in  whom  the  appearance  of  the  thunder- 
cloud comes  into  special  prominence.      Everywhere  in 
Greece  and  in  her  colonies,  but  most  of  all  in  Athens, 
which  was  named  for  her,  Athena  (Lat.  Minerva)  was 
worshiped   as  the  goddess  that  sends  down  lightning, 
rain,  dew,  and  mist.     She  is  designated  as  a  goddess  of 
the  lightning  by  her  epithet  Pallas,  'the  brandisher'  of 
lightning,  which  is  conceived  of  as  a  spear ;  therefore  in 
early  times  her  statues,  representing  her  with   poised 
spear,  were  called  Palladia.     Like  her  father  Zeus,  she 
wears  the  Aegis,  and  with  it  the  Gorgon's  head  (Gorgo- 
neiori),  which,  according  to  the  Argive  myth,  she  received 
from  Perseus,  but,  according  to  the  Attic  myth,  won  for 
herself  in  single  combat. 

36.  The  three  Gorgoiies  (<  Gorgons '),  who  live  in  the 
far  west,  —  especially  one  of  them,  the  mortal  Medusa, 

-  are  properly  female  representatives  of  the  thunder- 
clouds ;  but,  like  the  Giants  and  the  Cyclops,  they 
embody  only  the  terrible  side  of  the  phenomenon. 
Their  vesture  is  as  black  as  the  thundercloud;  their 
fiery  glance  turns  to  stone,  as  the  lightning's  stroke 


THE  GREEK  GODS  25 

stuns  or  kills  ;  their  bellowing  is  the  roar  of  the  thunder ; 
wings  carry  them  through  the  air.  When  the  head  of 
Medusa  was  cut  off,  the  monster  Chrysaor  ('  gold-sword/ 
the  golden  flash  of  the  lightning)  sprang  from  her  body, 
and  also  the  winged  horse  Pegasus  (the  thundercloud), 
at  the  stamp  of  whose  hoof  (lightning)  the  spring  of 
the  Muses,  Hippocrene  ('  horse  spring '),  which  inspires 
all  poets,  gushed  forth  on  Mount  Helicon.  After  serv- 
ing Bellerophon,  Pegasus  bears  in  heaven  the  lightning 
of  Zeus.  Medusa  was  killed  by  Athena  for  the  same 
reason  as  that  for  which  the  Giants  were  conquered 
by  Zeus.  That  is,  in  the  phenomena  of  the  thunder- 
storm the  element  of  power  that  is  hostile  to  mankind, 
embodied  in  these  monsters,  soon  disappears ;  but  rain 
and  fertility,  which  men  regard  as  gifts  of  the  divinity 
of  the  storm,  endure  after  the  storm  has  vented  its  rage. 
Like  Zeus,  Athena  becomes,  on  account  of  this  contest 
and  victory,  the  goddess  of  war  and  victory  in  general, 
so  that  she  bears  the  epithets  Promachos  ('  leader  of  the 
combat ')  and  Nike  ('  victory '). 

37.  In  the  dry  season  of  the  year,  the  rain,  which  pro- 
motes the  growth  of  vegetation,  sometimes  pours  from 
the  thundercloud;  and  so  Athena  was  the  protectress 
of  the  chief  sources  of  the  wealth  of  Attica,  namely, 
fruit  culture  and  agriculture,  and  consequently  of  the 
cultivated  land.  Therefore  the  second  principal  type  of 
her  representation  in  art  exhibits  a  matronly,  enthroned 
goddess,  who  is  visually  called  Athena  Polias  ('  goddess  of 
the  city ').  On  the  Acropolis  of  Athens  was  an  ancient 
olive  tree,  which,  it  was  said,  the  goddess  had  caused 
to  spring  up  when  she  strove  with  Poseidon  for  the 
dominion  over  the  country. 


26         GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

38.  To  agriculture  especially  is  to  be  referred  the 
myth  of  the  serpent-formed  Erichthonius,  or  Erechtheus. 
These  two  names  at  Athens  stood  originally  for  the 
same  person,  and  really  represented  the  seed  corn  grow- 
ing up  out  of  the  lap  of  the  earth  (their  mother  Gaea), 
under  the  protection  of  Athena,  the  goddess  of  the 
thunderstorm,  and  her  maidservants,  the  dew  sisters 
Aglauros  ('  the  one  living  in  the  open  air ?),  Herse 
('dew'),  and  Pandrosos  ('dew').  The  father  of  both 
Erichthonius  and  Erechtheus  is  Hephaestus,  the  god  of 
the  thunderstorm,  who  during  the  spring  storms  cleaves 
the  hard  crust  of  the  earth  and  fertilizes  it.  It  was  sup- 
posed to  be  in  his  honor  and  that  of  Athena  that  the  very 
ancient  ChalJceia  ('  forge  festival ')  had  been  instituted,  at 
which  the  invention  of  the  plow  and  the  birth  of  Erech- 
theus were  celebrated.  Erichthonius  and  Erechtheus 
came  at  length  to  be  distinguished.  The  latter  was 
considered  a  national  god  living  in  a  cave  on  the  Acrop- 
olis, and,  still  later,  as  a  king  of  Athens.  The  dew 
sisters  now  appear  under  various  names  as  his  daughters. 
In  the  Erechtheum  he  was  worshiped  as  a  hero  in  the 
form  of  a  serpent,  in  connection  with  the  worship  of 
Athena  and  Poseidon.  As  the  protecting  goddess  of  agri- 
culture Athena  was  honored  also  by  sacred  plowings  at 
the  foot  of  the  Acropolis  in  the  beginning  of  seedtime, 
and  especially  at  the  old  harvest  festival  of  the  Pana- 
thenaia  from  the  24th  to  the  29th  of  Hecatombaion 
(beginning  of  August),  a  festival  which  from  the  time 
of  Pisistratus  was  observed  every  fifth  year  with  special 
splendor.  A  torch  race,  prize  contests  for  musicians  and 
dancers,  and  races  between  ships  of  war  were  arranged 
for  these  occasions.  The  chief  day  of  the  festival  was 


THE   GREEK  GODS  27 

the  28th,  the  birthday  of  the  goddess,  on  which  they 
brought  her  a  new  robe  (Peplus),  embroidered  by  the 
ladies  of  the  highest  rank  in  Athens.  During  the  fes- 
tal procession  through  the  city  this  was  fastened  like 
a  sail  to  a  chariot  made  to  imitate  the  form  of  a  ship. 
Priests,  old  men,  women  and  maidens,  and  the  whole 
body  of  men  capable  of  bearing  arms,  marched  along 
with  it,  amid  a  display  of  the  greatest  magnificence,  up 
the  Acropolis  to  the  ancient  temple  of  the  goddess.  The 
splendid  reliefs  on  the  frieze  of  the  cella  of  the  Parthe- 
non still  serve  to  bring  this  festal  procession  before 
our  eyes. 

39.  This  Peplus,  moreover,  calls  attention  to  another 
very  significant  side  of  the  nature  of  the  goddess.  The 
thundercloud,  in  which  the  lightnings  rush  hither  and 
thither,  and  similarly  the  mist,  which  often  covers  every- 
thing as  with  a  veil,  were  conceived  of  as  a  delicately 
woven  fabric;  and  so  the  goddess  with  whom  these 
phenomena  were  associated,  under  the  name  Athena 
Ergane  ('  worker '),  came  to  be  considered  the  inven- 
tress  of  the  arts  of  spinning  and  weaving.  As  such 
she  transformed  into  a  spider  the  skillful  Lydian  weaver 
Arachne  (' spider'),  who  dared  to  engage  with  her  in 
a  trial  of  skill.  After  she  had  once  become  the  inven- 
tress  of  an  art  in  which  skill  is  of  great  importance 
for  the  ordinary  relations  of  life,  many  other  similar 
inventions  were  ascribed  to  her.  So  she  developed 
gradually  into  the  goddess  of  wisdom  in  general,  and 
in  that  connection  into  the  protectress  of  learning;  and, 
in  Hesiod,  Metis  (' wisdom')  appears  as  her  mother. 
Of  course  it  may  be  that  some  additional  influence  to 
emphasize  this  phase  of  her  character  was  exerted  by 


28  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

the  idea  of  her  clear  shining  glance  (suggested  in  her 
epithet  yAavKWTris,  and  in  the  fact  that  the  owl  is  her 
sacred  bird),  which  in  human  beings  indicates  a  spiritual 
life,  and  which  properly  belongs  to  Athena  on  account  of 
the  same  characteristic  in  the  lightning.  Also  a  further 
explanation  may  be  sought  in  the  notion  of  the  fiery 
essence  of  the  soul  itself;  for  it  was  on  this  ground 
that  the  formation  and  animation  of  the  human  race 
were  ascribed  to  Prometheus,  god  of  lightning,  and 
to  Hephaestus,  god  of  fire. 

40.  Athena's  ideal  figure  in  art  was  made  by  Phidias, 
who  likewise  has  been  generally  credited  with  having 
created  the  type  of  the  so-called  Athena  Promachos  in 
a  colossal  bronze  statue  placed  upon  the  Acropolis  under 
the  open  sky.     It  was  the  same  sculptor  who  fashioned 
in  gold  and  ivory  for  the  Parthenon  the  Athena  Parthenos 
(' maiden7),  holding  on  her  right  hand  Mke  (<  victory '). 
She  appears  always  serious,   even  austere,  but  full   of 
composure,  and  with  an  expression  of  high  intellectual- 
ity ;  she  always  wears  a  long  robe,  and  is  often  distin- 
guished by  the  Aegis  worn  over  this. 

41.  The   Erinyes    (<  the   angry  ones '),  black,  winged, 
stalking   swiftly   along    in    the    dark    clouds,   are,   like 
the  Gorgons  described  above,  the  embodiments  of  the 
grim  thunderclouds  which  threaten  destruction.     Their 
glance   of  flame   and   their   fiery   breath,  like   the   ser- 
pents twining  about  their  heads,  represent  the  darting 
lightning.     The  same  idea  is  signified  by  the  torch  and 
the  whip  which  they  brandish,  the  latter  of  which  pro- 
duces a  state  of  madness  and   stupefaction  in  whomso- 
ever they  strike.     But  since  the  clouds  on  the  horizon 
seem  to  rise  up  out  of  the  earth,  imagination  removed 


THE  >H4£        fftX  29 


the  abode  of  the  Erinyes  to  the  lower  world  ;  thus  from 
being  black  divinities  of  the  thunderstorm,  who  bring 
death,  they  became  goddesses  of  death  and  vengeance. 
Their  wild  raging  was  conceived  of  as  a  pursuit  or  a  hunt, 
so  that  they  were  themselves  compared  to  hounds.  On 
being  transferred  to  the  realm  of  morals  they  became 
pursuers  of  those  that  had  committed  heinous  crimes, 
especially  of  those  who,  transgressing  the  laws  of  family 
rights,  had  injured  a  parent  or  elder  brother;  on  the 
other  hand  they  protect  the  stranger  and  the  sacredness 
of  an  oath.  But  by  offerings  and  prayers,  even  the  '  angry 
ones'  can  be  conciliated,  and  so  they  were  worshiped 
in  Sicyon  and  Argos  as  Eumenides  ('  well-disposed  7),  in 
Athens  as  Semnai  ('the  honored'). 

42.  Near  the  Gorgons  dwell  their  sisters  and  guar- 
dians, the  Graeae  ('old  women'),  Pephredo,  Enyo,  and 
Demo  ('the  terrible').  They  are  probably  representa- 
tives of  the  gray  clouds  preceding  the  thunderstorm 
proper,  in  which  the  lightning  harmlessly  darts  from 
one  cloud  to  another  (heat  lightning).  Therefore  they 
appear  as  old  women,  who  possess  only  one  eye  and  only 
one  tooth  between  them  (in  both  thes.e  figures  represent- 
ing the  lightning),  who  surrender  these  to  each  other, 
however,  for  various  purposes. 

Gigantes  :  Hesiod,  Theog.  185  ;  Ovid.  Met.  i.  152  sq. 

Cronus  (Saturn):  Homer,  II.  passim;  Hesiod,  Theog.  137; 
Ovid,  Met.  i.  113  sq.,  Amor.  iii.  8,  35;  Vergil,  Aen.  vii.  180, 
viii.  319,  357  ;  Keats,  Hyperion  i.  249  :  - 

Shall  scare  that  infant  thunderer,  rebel  Jove, 
And  bid  old  Saturn  take  his  throne  again. 

Milton,  Par.  L.  i.  510  :  - 

Titan,  heaven's  firstborn, 
With  his  enormous  brood,  and  birthright  seized 


30  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

By  younger  Saturn ;  he  from  mightier  Jove 
(His  own  and  Rhea's  son)  like  measure  found ; 
So  Jove  usurping  reign 'd. 

Chaucer,  Knight's  Tale  470,  et  passim. 

Titan  as  sun  god  :     Shak.,  Venus  and  Adonis  30  :  — 

And  Titan,  tired  in  the  mid-day  heat. 
Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  iv.  8,  xi.  33. 

Titanes  :  Hesiod,  Theog.  207  ;  Hyginus,  Pref. 

Cyclopes  :  Homer,  Odys.  vi.  5,  viii.,  ix. passim;  Hesiod,  Theog. 
139  ;  Euripides,  Cyclops  ;  Vergil,  Geor.  i.  471  :  — 

Quotiens  Cyclopum  effervere  in  agros 
Vidimus  undantem  ruptis  fornacibus  Aetnam, 
Flammarumque  globos  liquef actaque  volvere  saxa ! 

Aen.  iii.  569,  xi.  263,  Geor.  iv.  170  sq. ;  Ovid,  Met.  xiii.  744  sq.,  xiv. 
167  sq, ;  Pope,  Thebais  i.  306  :  — 

Th'  o'erlabour'd  Cyclop  from  his  task  retires. 
Shak.,  Titus  Andronicus  iv.  3,  46,  Hamlet  ii.  2,  511. 

Typhoeus  :  Hesiod,  Theog.  821 ;  Ovid,  Met.  v.  325  sq.;  Spenser, 
F.  Q.  i.  v.  35. 

Zeus  (Juppiter)  :  The  noun  stem  DIV,  DYU,  became  early  a 
deification.  The  all-comprehending  heavenly  spaces  suggest  the 
divine  presence.  The  word  PITR  ('father')  was  often  joined  to 
this  stem.  In  the  following  hymn's  DYAUS  PITA  ('sky- father') 
was  worshiped  among  the  ancient  Hindus.  The  references  are  to 
all  the  places  in  the  Rig  Veda  where  the  epithet  PITR  is  added : 
Rig  Veda  i.  71.  5,  i.  89.  4,  i.  90.  7,  i.  164.  33,  i.  191.  6,  iv.  1.  10,  v.  43. 
2,  vi.  51.  5.  In  Hindu  mythology,  however,  Indra  corresponds  in 
attributes  to  the  Greek  Zeus  and  Roman  Juppiter  more  than  any 
other  god  in  the  Indian  Pantheon.  The  following  verses  from 
Rig  Veda  i.,  describing  him  as  the  whirler  of  the  thunderbolt,  are 
representative  of  many  such  ascriptions  to  his  might  which  abound 
in  the  Veda.  Indra,  Rig  Veda  i.  32  :  — 

1.  The  heroic  deeds  of  Indra  I  shall  declare  which  foremost  he  having 
the  thunderbolt  has  accomplished.  |      He  smote  the  dragon,  he  bored 
after  the  waters,  he  cut  in  sunder  the  bellies  of  the  (cloud)  mountains. 

2.  He  smote  the  dragon  lying  on  the  mountains. 
Tvastar  forged  for  him  the  whizzing  thunderbolt.  | 

As  lowing  kine,  flowing  suddenly  the  water  ran  down  to  the  confluence. 

3.  With  the  lust  of  a  bull  he  took  the  Soma,  he  drank  of  the  extract 
in  the  vessels.  I 


THE  GREEK  GODS  31 

The  generous  Indra  took  the  missile,  the  destructive  thunderbolt,  he 
smote  the  firstborn  of  dragons. 

15.  Indra  is  king  of  him  who  goes,  of  him  who  rests,  and  of  the  tame, 
of  the  horned  beast,  (Indra)  possessing  the  thunderbolt  on  his  arm.  | 
That  king  rules  the  busy  folk.     He  has  surrounded  them  as  a  felly 
the  spokes. 
Hesiod,  Theog.  72  ;  Homer,  II.  i.  passim,  xiv.  203 :  — 

tire  re  Kp6vov  evpvoira  Zei>s 
yat'rjs  vtp0e  KaQeiffe  Kal  drpvy^roio  0a\aW?;s. 

Ovid,  Met.  i.  113,  Ars  Amat.  i.  635;  Vergil,  Aen.  vii.  219;  Hy- 
ginus,  Fab.  civ. ;  (As  the  Sky,  Horace,  Od.  i.  22,  20,  iii.  10,  8 ;) 
Pope,  Thebais  i.  357  :  — 

When  Jove  descended  in  almighty  gold ; 
Rape  of  the  Lock  v.  49 :  — 

Jove's  thunder  roars,  heaven  trembles  all  around. 
Shak.,  Cymbeline  v.  4,  32 :  — 

With  Mars  fall  out,  with  Juno  chide ; 

The  Tempest  v.  1,  45,  Measure  for  Measure  ii.  2,  111,  Hamlet  iii.  4, 
56;  Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  i.  6,  iv.  11;  Chaucer,  Knight's  Tale  2177, 
et  passim. 

Uranus :  Varuna  (root  VR  =  'cover ')  was  an  early  deification  of 
the  expanse.  A  hymn  in  the  Atharva  Veda  praises  the  god  as  the 
all-knowing  divine  presence.  The  stars  which  studded  the  heavens 
at  night  became,  in  the  poetic  imagination,  the  thousand  eyes  of 
Varuna  looking  down  upon  the  world.  A  portion  of  the  hymn  is 
translated  here.  Atharva  Veda  iv.  16  :  — 

1.  The  great  one,  lord  of  these  worlds,  sees,  as  if  close  at  hand.  | 
Whoever  thinks  he  is  acting  stealthily,  the  gods  know  it  all. 

2.  Whoever  stands,  and  goes,  and  whoever  stoops,  whoever  hides, 
whoever  withdraws,  |      Whatever  two  (persons)  sitting  together  de- 
vise, Varuna  the  king  knows  it  (for  he  is  there)  as  a  third. 

3.  The  earth  is  of  Varuna  the  king  and  yonder  heaven,  great,  pos- 
sessing distant  ends.  |      And  the  two  oceans  are  Varuna's  stomach 
and  in  this  little  water  he  is  hidden. 

4.  Who  would  go  far  beyond  heaven  will  not  escape  from  Varuna 
the  king.  |      His  spies  from  heaven  traverse  the  world.     Thousand- 
eyed  they  look  upon  the  earth. 

5.  All  this  Varuna  the  king  knows,  what  is  between  heaven  and 
earth  (and)  what  is  beyond.  | 

Numbered  by  him  are  the  winkings  of  men's  eyes.  As  a  gamester 
knows  his  dice,  he  takes  note  of  them. 


32  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Lycaon  :  Ovid,  Met.  i.  198  sq. 

Hera  (Juno)  :  Homer,  II.  i.  passim  ;  Hesiod,  Theog.  454  ;  Ovid, 
Ars  Amat.  i.  635,  Met.  iii.  passim  ;  Vergil,  Aen.  i.  passim  ;  Hygi- 
nus,  Fab.  xiii.  ;  Milton,  Par.  L.ix.  18  :  — 

Or  Neptune's  ire  or  Juno's,  that  so  long 
Perplex'd  the  Greek  and  Cytherea's  son. 

Shak.,  The  Tempest  iv.  1,  131,  Antony  and  Cleopatra  iv.  15,  34; 
Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  iv.  17. 

Hebe:  Homer,  II.  v.  722,  Od.  xi.  603;  Hesiod,  Theog.  922; 
Ovid,  Met.  ix.  400  ;  Milton,  Comus  290  :  — 

As  smooth  as  Hebe's  their  unrazor'd  lips  ; 

L'  Allegro  29. 

Ganymedes  :  Ovid,  Met.  x.  155  :  — 

Rex  super  urn  Phrygii  quondam  Ganymedis  amore 
Arsit  ; 

xi.  756  ;  Vergil,  Aen.  i.  28. 
Dione  :  Homer,  II.  v.  381  :  — 

6ia  Qcdwv. 


Ovid,  Ars  Amat.  iii.  3,  Amor.  i.  14,  33. 

Rhea  :  Hesiod,  Theog.  453  ;  Ovid,  Fast.  iv.  201. 

Hephaestus  (Vulcan):  Hesiod,  Theog.  927  ;  Homer,  II.  i.  590  :  — 

Tjdrj  yap  /-te  Kal  dXXor'  d\e£^uej/cu 

pi\f/e  irodbs  reraytav  airb  &i}\ov 

Trdv  5'  71/j.ap  <f)€p6/JLr)v,  a/j,a  5' 

Kdinreffov  tv  A^jui/y,  6\iyo$  5'  en  9u/*6s  evrjev. 

Ovid,  Ars  Amat,  ii.  741  ;  Vergil,  Aen.  viii.  370  sq.;  Milton,  Par. 

L.  i.  740:—  And  how  he  fell 

From  Heaven,  they  fabled,  thrown  by  angry  Jove 
Sheer  o'er  the  crystal  battlements  ;  from  morn 
To  noon  he  fell,  from  noon  to  dewy  eve, 
A  summer's  day  ;  and  with  the  setting  sun 
Dropped  from  the  zenith  like  a  falling  star, 
On  Lemnos  the  .ZEgean  isle. 

Cowper,  Translation  from  Milton  vii  :  — 

When  Jove  had  hurled  him  to  the  Lemnian  coast 
So  Vulcan  sorrowed  for  Olympus  lost. 

Shak.,  Much  Ado  about  Nothing  i.  1,  187  ;  Chaucer,  Knight's  Tale 
1364. 


THE  GREEK  GODS  33 

Prometheus :  Hesiod,  Theog.  510 ;  Aeschylus,  Prometheus 
Vinctus ;  Vergil,  Eel.  vi.  42 ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  cxliv. ;  Cowper, 
Translation  from  Milton,  Epigram  on  the  Inventor  of  Guns:  — 

Praise  in  old  time  the  sage  Prometheus  won, 
Who  stole  ethereal  radiance  from  the  sun ; 
But  greater  he  whose  bold  invention  strove 
To  emulate  the  fiery  bolts  of  Jove. 

Translation  from  Milton,  To  his  Father :  - 

Man's  heavenly  source,  and  which  retaining  still 
Some  scintillations  of  Promethean  fire, 
Bespeaks  him  animated  from  above. 

Shak.,  Love's  Labour's  Lost  iv.  3,  304,  Othello  v.  2,  12,  Titus  An- 
dronicus  ii.  1,  17. 

Pandora:   Hyginus,  Fab.  cxlii.;  Milton,  Par.  L.  iv.  714:  — 

More  lovely  than  Pandora,  whom  the  gods 
Endow'd  with  all  their  gifts. 

Pallas  Athena  (Minerva)  :  Hesiod,  Theog.  923 :  — 

Aurds  5'  £K  K€(f>a\ijs  7\avAcc67rt5a  yelvar'  ^KQi\vr\v^ 
Homer,  II.  ii.  157,  i.  passim  ;  Ovid,  Fast.  iii.  5  :  — 

Ipse  vides  manibus  peragi  fera  bella  Minervae : 
Num  minus  ingenuis  artibus  ilia  vacat  ? 

Ars  Arnat.  i.  625,  745 ;  Vergil,  Aen.  v.  704,  ii.  passim ;  Horace, 
Ars  Poet.  385  :  — 

Tu  nihil  invita  dices  faciesve  Minerva. 
Pope,  The  Dunciad  i.  10 :  — 

Ere  Pallas  issued  from  the  Thund'rer's  head. 

Gorgones :  Ovid,  Met.  iv.  618 ;  Vergil,  Aen.  vi.  289 ;  Milton, 
Comus  447  :  — 

What  was  that  snaky-headed  Gorgon  shield 
That  wise  Minerva  wore,  unconquer'd  virgin, 
Wherewith  she  freez'd  her  foes  to  congeal'd  stone? 

Browning,  Protus   4  :  — 

Loric  and  low-browed  Gorgon  on  the  breast. 

Erechtheus:  Vergil,  Geor.  iii.  113;  Hyginus,  Fab.  clxvi. 
Arachne  :  Ovid,  Met.  vi.  5  sq. 
Graeae:  Hesiod,  Theog.  270. 

D 


34  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Erinyes  (Eumenides):  Hesiod,  Theog.  185;  Aeschylus,  Eumen- 
ides;  Ovid,  Met.  i.  241,  iv.  490,  xi.  14  ;  Vergil,  Aen.  ii.  337,  573,  iv. 
469,  vii.  447  ;  Pope,  Ode  on  St.  Cecilia's  Day  69  :  — 

The  Furies  sink  upon  their  iron  beds 

And  snakes  uncurl'd  hang  list'ning  round  their  heads. 

Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  iii.  36,  v.  31. 

2.    DIVINITIES  OF  THE  WIND 

43.  As   the  wind  itself   shares   one   of  its   principal 
characteristics,    swiftness,    with    the   thunderclouds,    so 
the  divinities  to  whose  activity  was  traced   the   power 
manifesting  itself  in  the  wind  resembled  the  represent- 
atives of  the  thundercloud   in   many  ways.     A  middle 
ground  between  the  two  seems  to  have  been  occupied  by 
the  Harpyiae  ('the  swift  robbers'),  Aello  (' storm-swift'), 
and  Ocypete  ('  swift-flying '),  whose  field  of  action  was 
in  the  storm  clouds.     They  are  represented  as  winged 
and  with   a  horse's  shape,  also   as   creatures  with  the 
head   and   bust   of  a  woman,  and  the   body  of   a  bird, 
figures  which  were  intended  to  suggest  their  swiftness. 
They  came  to  be  regarded  as  goddesses  of  death,  swiftly 
snatching  away  their  victims ;  evidently  because  it  was 
supposed  that  souls,  being  like  air  or  smoke,  were,  on 
leaving  the  body,  carried  away  by  the  storm. 

44.  Closely  allied  to  the  Harpies  are  the  wind  gods 
proper,  who  often,  as  enemies  or  as  lovers,  pursue  them ; 
for  in  the  earliest  times  the  wind  gods  too  were  believed 
to  have  the  form  of  a  horse,  later  that  of  bearded  men, 
taking  long  strides,  with  wings  on  their  shoulders  and 
often  also  on  their  feet.      Sometimes  they  have  faces 
looking  both  ways,  forwards  and  backwards,  a  conception 
which  probably  has  reference  to  the  changeableness  in 
the  direction  of  the  wind.     There  were  distinguished  in 


THE   GREEK   GODS  35 

the  earlier  times  only  Boreas  (north),  Zephyrus  (west), 
Notus  (south),  and,  somewhat  later,  Eurus  (east),  who 
were  considered  the  sons  of  Astraeus  ((  starry  vault  of 
heaven')  and  Eos  (<dawii?).  Like  the  Harpies,  they  are 
of  a  rapacious  nature.  Boreas,  in  particular,  kidnaped 
the  beautiful  Orithyia,  the  daughter  of  Erechtheus,  from 
the  bank  of  the  Ilissus,  —  a  story  which  perhaps  typi- 
fies the  morning  rnist  being  carried  off  by  the  wind.  The 
ruler  of  the  winds  is  Aeolus  ('the  shifting  one7),  who 
dwells  on  a  floating  island  in  the  far  west,  and  keeps 
them  confined  in  a  cave. 

45.  According   to   the    most    probable    interpretation 
Hermes  (Lat.  Mercurius),  too,  was  originally  a  wind  god ; 
but  Avith  him,  as  in  the  case  of  Apollo,  the  relation  to 
his  native  element  was  almost  entirely  obscured  by  that 
side  of  his  nature  which  is  concerned  purely  with  human 
life  and  customs.     So  his  fundamental  signification  can 
be  determined  only  by  the  agreement  of  many  of  his 
functions   with   the   attributes   of   the   wind    and   with 
those  of  divinities  that  can  be  clearly  shown  to  be  wind 
gods.     He   was   the    messenger    of    Zeus,   because    the 
wind   seems  to  come  from  heaven ;    and  for  the  same 
reason  he  came  to  be  considered  the  son  of  the  god  of 
the  heavens  and  of  Maia,  the  goddess  of  the  rain  clouds, 
and  was  said  to  have  been  born  on  Olympus,  or  in  the 
cave  Cyllene  (i.e.  the  cave  of  the  clouds).     As  messenger 
he  carried  the  herald's   staff  (K-qp-vKciov,  Lat.   caduceus), 
which  had  originally  the  form   of  a  walking   stick,   or 
shepherd's   staff,  but   was   later   usually   like   a  forked 
branch  twisted. 

46.  On  account  of  the  swiftness  and  power  of  the  wind 
Hermes  became  the  god  of  bodily  exercise  (H.  Agonios), 


36  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

worshiped  in  race  courses  and  wrestling-schools.  In 
harmony  with  the  idea  that  he  was  god  of  the  wind, 
he  was  equipped  with  wings,  which  he  is  usually  rep- 
resented as  wearing  on  his  shoes  or  feet,  and  on  his 
traveling-hat  (Petasos)  or  head,  but  not,  at  least  in  the 
classical  period,  on  his  shoulders.  Because  the  wind 
whistles,  Hermes  is  said  to  have  invented  the  flute  and 
syrinx,  and  also,  by  an  easy  process  of  reasoning,  the 
lyre.  And  because  the  wind,  without  any  apparent 
reason,  arbitrarily  changes,  Hermes  is  the  god  of  chang- 
ing, unstable,  fortune  and  chance,  so  that  his  herald's 
staff  assumes  the  significance  of  a  magic  wand,  which 
similarly  among  the  ancient  Germans  was  an  attribute  of 
the  wind  god  Wodan.  But  as  the  traveler  is  dependent 
on  the  favor  of  wind  and  weather,  and  in  a  foreign 
land  can  always  get  his  bearings  by  noticing  the  direction 
of  the  prevailing  wind,  so  Hermes  is  the  protector  and 
guide  of  the  wanderer.  Sacred  to  him  were  the  heaps 
of  stones  or  the  stone  columns  that  served  as  way- 
marks,  which  were  often  adorned  with  a  head  of  Hermes 
and  called  Hermae. 

47.  The  wind  gods  are  robbers ;  and  so  Hermes  too  was 
looked  upon  as  the  one  who  drives  away  herds  of  cattle 
(clouds),  and  hence  as  god  of  thieves  and  deceivers. 
Boreas  kidnaps  a  beautiful  maiden;  Hermes  plays  the 
impetuous  lover  with  the  nymphs.  It  was  also  in  con- 
nection with  this  idea  that  he  was  regarded  as  the  pro- 
moter of  all  sorts  of  rural  fertility  in  animals  and  plants. 
Yet  the  fact  that  this  attribute  of  his  is  brought  forward 
prominently  would  appear  striking,  if  he  were  not  also,  as 
the  son  of  the  rain  goddess  Maia,  properly  to  be  regarded 
as  the  rain  bringer,  dispensing  fertility.  In  ancient 


THE  GREEK  GODS  37 

times  a  manifold  fructifying  effect  was  really  attributed 
to  the  wind.  On  this  ground  Hermes  was  regarded  as 
god  of  shepherds  (Nomios)  and  bestower  of  an  abundance 
of  flocks  and  herds  (Epimelios)  and,  at  the  same  time, 
of  prosperity  in  general,  an  idea  which  again  is  con- 
nected with  his  significance  as  a  god  of  fortune.  It 
was  because  of  this  latter  attribute  that  he  was  sup- 
posed to  promote  and  foster  money-making  on  land 
and  sea.  So  merchants,  whom  he  protected  on  their 
journeys,  spread  his  worship  everywhere,  and  especially 
carried  it  to  Koine,  where  as  Mercurius  ('  god  of  merchan- 
dise ')  he  was  held  in  the  highest  esteem. 

48.  As  the  Harpies  were  considered  goddesses  of  death, 
carrying  off  human  beings,  so  Hermes  Psychopompos 
('  soul-conductor ?)  guided  into  the  lower  world  the  souls 
(*l/vxrj  = '  breath ')  of  the  dead,  which  were  conceived  of 
as  airy,  or  sometimes  as  like  birds  or  bats.  He  was  also 
thought  to  send  visions,  which  are  intimately  associated 
with  souls,  and  so  became  god  of  death  and  of  sleep. 

As  god  of  shepherds  Hermes  was  worshiped  in  the 
country,  particularly  in  Arcadia ;  as  god  of  commerce,  in 
Athens  and  other  commercial  cities.  In  the  former  con- 
ception he  carries,  besides  the  above-mentioned  symbols, 
a  ram ;  in  the  latter,  especially  in  the  imperial  epoch,  a 
purse.  In  the  older  art  he  is  usually  represented  as 
a  mature  man  with  pointed  beard,  but  in  works  of  Ionic 
origin  is  often  even  then  conceived  of  as  a  youth.  Later 
this  is  his  regular  form ;  he  is  then  clothed  with  only  a 
chlamys,  or  is  almost  entirely  nude,  as  he  appears  in  the 
splendid  statue  by  Praxiteles  found  at  Olympia.  The 
child  upon  his  arm  is  the  young  Dionysus,  whom  he  is 
carrying  to  the  nymphs  to  be  nursed.  (Of.  §  90.) 


38  GREEK  AND  ROMAN   MYTHOLOGY 

Harpyiae:    Hesiod,   Theog.   267;    Vergil,   Aen.   iii.  212,  245; 
Hygiuus,  Fab.  xix. ;  Pope,  Im.  of  Horace  Sat.  ii.  25 :  — 
Oldfield  with  more  than  Harpy  throat  endued. 

Boreas:  Hesiod,  Theog.  379;  Ovid,  Trist.  iii.  10.  14,  11.  8; 
Vergil,  Geor.  i.  93,  370,  Aen.  xii.  365 ;  Shak.,  Troilus  and  Cressida 
i.  3,  37. 

Zephyrus :  Homer,  II.  ii.  147  ;  Ovid,  Her.  xiv.  39  :  — 

Ut  leni  Zephyro  graciles  vibrantur  aristae, 
Frigida  populeas  ut  quatit  aura  comas. 

Vergil,  Geor.  i.  371 ;  Pope,  Essay  on  Criticism  366 :  - 

Soft  is  the  strain  when  Zephyr  gently  blows. 
Chaucer,  Prologue  5. 

Aeolus:  Homer,  Od.  x.  1  sq. ;  Vergil,  Aen.  i.  50-101;  Horace, 
Od.  iii.  30,  13  ;  Pope,  The  Rape  of  the  Lock  iv.  81 :  - 

A  wondrous  bag  with  both  her  hands  she  binds, 
Like  that  where  once  Ulysses  held  the  winds ; 

Thebais  i.  488  :  - 

At  once  the  rushing  winds  with  roaring  sound 
Burst  from  th'  Aeolian  caves,  and  rend  the  ground. 

Shak.,  King  Henry  VI.  pt.  ii.  iii.  2,  92. 

Hermes  (Mercury):  Homer,  II.  i.  passim,  Od.  i.  passim ;  Hesiod, 
Theog.  938  ;  Ovid,  Fast.  v.  673  sq.  ;  Vergil,  Aen.  iv.  222  sq.,  558; 
Hyginus,  Fab.  clx.,  cci. ;  Milton,  Par.  L.  xi.  132  :  — 

Charmed  with  Arcadian  pipe,  the  pastoral  reed 
Of  Hermes,  or  his  opiate  rod. 

Shak.,  Love's  Labour's  Lost  v.  2,  940  :  — 

The  words  of  Mercury  are  harsh  after  the  songs  of  Apollo ; 
King  Richard  III.  ii.  1,  88,  Hamlet  iii.  4,  58,  Antony  and  Cleopatra 
iv.  15,  36,  Troilus  and  Cressida  ii.  2, 45  ;  Chaucer,  Knight's  Talc  527. 

3.    DIVINITIES  OF  LIGHT 

49.  Among  the  divinities  of  the  sky  belong  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  sun,  the  moon,  the  stars,  and  other 
phenomena  of  light.  Apollo  was  probably  a  sun  god, 
whose  worship  was  very  common  among  the  Dorians  and 
lonians,  though  in  historic  times  he  stood  for  the  god  of 


THE  GREEK  GODS  39 

all  that  is  beautiful  and  good,  and  was  likewise  the  chief 
representative  of  good  morals  and  civil  order.  Aside 
from  his  epithets,  Lycius  ('  bright '),  Phoebus  ('  shining '), 
Chrysocomas  ('  golden-haired '),  and  Epopsios  ('  over- 
seeing '),  and  his  worship  as  guide  of  the  wanderer,  and 
protector  of  navigation  (A.  Agyleus,  and  Delphmios  ; 
cf.  §  75),  his  original  significance  is  indicated,  first,  by 
the  circumstance  that  all  his  festivals  occurred  in  the 
warm  season.  On  the  7th  day  of  Thargelion  (May- 
June)  his  birthday  was  celebrated,  especially  in  Delos ; 
for,  pursued  by  the  hate  of  the  jealous  Hera,  his  mother 
Leto,  after  long  wandering,  finally  found  a  refuge  upon 
this  rocky  island,  which  up  to  that  time  had  been  itself 
without  a  fixed  abode,  driven  about  over  the  waves ;  and 
there  she  bore  the  twins,  Apollo  and  Artemis.  In  some 
localities,  particularly  at  Delphi,  the  next  most  important 
place  of  the  worship  of  Apollo,  there  was  celebrated  at 
about  the  same  time  the  festival  of  his  return  from  the 
land  of  the  Hyperborei',  a  mythical  realm  of  eternal  light 
and  blessed  peace,  which  in  later  times  was  supposed  to 
be  in  the  far  north ;  while  in  other  places  it  was  believed 
that  Apollo  spent  the  winter  months  in  Ethiopia  or  Lycia, 
i.e.  in  the  southern  land  of  light. 

50.  Immediately  after  his  birth  he  is  threatened  by 
the  hostile  powers  of  winter  and  darkness;  yet  the 
young  god  victoriously  subdues  them.  This  is  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  story  of  his  killing  the  dragon  Python 
or  Delphyne,  the  victory  which  was  celebrated  by  the 
festival  of  the  Pythian  games.  Since  the  growth  of 
vegetation  in  the  pastures  and  cultivated  fields  depends 
upon  the  sun,  Apollo  becomes  the  god  of  pastures  (Nomios) 
and  protector  of  cattle  breeding ;  therefore  in  Sparta  and 


40  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

elsewhere  the  festival  of  Karneia  ('  feast  of  the  ram ')  was 
celebrated  in  his  honor ;  and  Aristaeus  ('  the  best  god ?), 
the  representative  of  agriculture,  cattle  raising,  and  bee 
culture,  was  called  his  son.  For  the  same  reason  harvest 
festivals  were  celebrated  in  his  honor:  in  Delos,  the 
Delia;  in  Sparta,  the  Hyakintliia;  in  Athens,  the  Thar- 
gelia  and  Pyanepsia.  At  the  Spartan  festival  the  vege- 
tation, ripened  and  killed  by  the  beams  of  the  sun,  was 
represented  under  the  form  of  Hyacinthus,  the  personi- 
fied spring  flower,  and  the  legend  was  that  Apollo,  at 
play,  had  inadvertently  killed  this  favorite  of  his  by  a 
throw  of  the  discus,  but  had  then  caused  the  flower  to 
spring  forth  out  of  his  blood  as  it  flowed  to  the  ground. 

51.  Usually,  however,  the  rays  of  the  sun  are  regarded 
as  arrows  ;  therefore  Apollo  carries  as  his  weapons  ar- 
rows and  a  silver  bow.  The  ' far-shooter'  (HeJcatos,  HeJca- 
ergos,  Hekatebolos)  comes  to  be  considered  an  aid  in 
battle  (Boedromios) ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  since  in 
the  south  the  heat  of  the  midsummer  sun  produces  the 
much-dreaded  pestilence  and  other  sicknesses,  he  becomes 
the  god  of  the  plague.  To  propitiate  him,  feasts  of  atone- 
ment must  be  celebrated,  and  so  at  the  TJiargelia  in 
Athens  even  human  beings  are  said  to  have  been  offered 
as  vicarious  sacrifices,  that  he  might  pardon  the  rest. 
Yet,  as  he  sends  sickness,  so  he  can  ward  it  off ;  there- 
fore he  is  invoked  as  the  defender  from  evil  (Alexikdkos)^ 
savior  (Soter),  and  healing  physician  (Paieon,  Ulios) ; 
and  the  physician  of  the  gods,  Aesculapius,  is  considered 
his  son.  These  characteristics,  together  with  his  gen- 
eral nature  as  a  god  of  light,  by  being  transferred  from 
the  realm  of  the  physical  to  that  of  the  spiritual,  cause 
him  to  appear  as  a  redeemer  from  all  guilt  and  the  chief 


THE  GREEK  GODS  41 

representative  of  purification  and  expiation  (A.  Katliar- 
sios).  In  this  capacity  his  attribute  is  the  laurel  branch 
(Sd<t>vrj)  with  which  one  needing  pardon  is  dismissed; 
but  the  symbol  of  the  wolf,  which  has  been  interpreted 
as  an  emblem  of  the  fugitive  murderer,  is  probably  only 
the  result  of  a  confusion  between  the  words  AVKOS  (<  wolf ') 
and  AVKCIOS  ('  the  bright  one'). 

52.  In  later  times  all  other  phases  of  Apollo's  nature 
were  subordinate  to  his  special  character  as  god  of  ora- 
cles.     The   most   important   place    of   prophecy   in    all 
Greece  was  his  oracle  at  Delphi,  which  is  mentioned  as 
early  as  the  Iliad;  but  he  gave  oracular  responses  also 
at   Didymoi   near   Miletus,    Claros   near   Colophon,    and 
Abai   in  Phocis.     At  these  places  a  priestess,  who   by 
drinking  from  a  sacred  spring  had  brought  herself  into 
an  inspired  state,  uttered  significant  words,  which  were 
then  interpreted  by  a  priest  standing  beside  her,   and 
thus  became  a  response.     At  Delphi  the  priestess,  who 
was  called  Pythia  (<  the  understanding  one/  cf.  lirvOonrjv), 
sat   on   a   tripod    over   a   fissure   in   the   ground  while 
giving  the  oracle.     Furthermore,  since  the  oracular  re- 
sponses   of    Apollo    were    usually    composed    in    verse, 
Apollo    was    considered    the    protector    and    friend    of 
poetry,  song,  and  its  customary  accompaniment,  namely, 
playing    on    the    lyre.       So    he    became    leader    of    the 
Muses,  and  received  as  an  additional  emblem  the  lyre 
invented  by  Hermes. 

53.  In  art  Apollo  is  represented  by  the  ideal  form  of 
a  perfectly-developed,   slender  youth,  beardless,  except 
in   archaic  art,  and  with   long  hair  falling  in  ringlets. 
Usually  he  is  nude,  or  with  only  a  little  cloak  (clilamys) 
thrown  over  his  shoulder  or  his  left  arm.     As  his  dis- 


42  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

tinguishing  symbols  he  carries  a  bow  and  arrows.  A 
variety  of  this  type,  Apollo  at  rest,  with  his  arm  resting 
on  his  head,  seems  to  have  originated  with  Praxiteles. 
As  leader  of  the  Muses  he  is  represented  with  a  long, 
Ionian  garment  (chiton),  a  lyre,  and  a  laurel  wreath, — 
a  conception  which,  at  least  in  the  more  animated  form 
of  its  representation,  is  believed  to  have  been  furnished 
by  Scopas. 

54.  As  the  ethical  side  of  Apollo's  nature  was  more 
fully  developed,  by  degrees  his  significance  in  the  visible 
world  was  forgotten,  and  the  active  force  typified  in  the 
sun  god  was  transferred  to  Helios,  who  was  probably 
from  a  very  early  period  regarded  by  the  inhabitants  of 
the  island  of  Rhodes  as  their  chief  god.  For,  while  his 
worship  in  the  rest  of  Greece  was  relatively  insignificant, 
there  he  was  so  highly  honored  that  a  brilliant  festival, 
the  Helieia,  was  celebrated  for  him.  At  the  same  place 
was  erected  in  his  honor,  about  280  B.C.,  at  the  entrance 
of  the  harbor,  the  celebrated  bronze  statue  (made  by 
Chares  of  Lindos)  known  as  the  Colossus  of  Ehodes. 
On  account  of  the  apparent  movement  of  the  sun  it  was 
believed  that  Helios  rode  along  in  the  heavens  in  a  glit- 
tering chariot,  drawn  by  four  swift  horses.  He  himself 
was  pictured  to  the  imagination  as  in  the  bloom  of  young 
manhood,  with  a  sparkling  crown  upon  his  head,  which 
was  covered  with  long  curling  locks.  From  the  sea  god- 
dess Clymene  he  begot  Phaethon  ('the  shining'),  who 
perished  in  an  attempt  to  manage  the  chariot  of  the  sun 
for  a  day  in  his  father's  place.  On  the  island  of  Thrina- 
cia  were  said  to  be  pastured  the  milk-white  herds  of 
cattle  and  flocks  of  sheep  belonging  to  Helios,  by  which 
are  probably  to  be  understood  the  bright  little  clouds 


THE  GREEK  GODS  43 

which  with  us  also  are  frequently  described  as  "  fleecy/7 
and  among  the  Germans  are  called  Schdfcihen  ('  lambkins '). 
The  heliotrope,  which  always  turns  toward  the  sun,  was 
believed  to  be  his  beloved  Clytia  metamorphosed  into  a 
flower. 

55.  The  moon   among  the  Greeks   and   Romans  was 
given  a  feminine  name  (o-eA^v^,  luna),  and  the  power 
which  people  believed  they  saw  exerted  by  it  was  as- 
cribed to  goddesses,  who  in  different  tribes  bore  various 
names.     During  nights  when  the  moon  shines  bright  the 
dew  falls  more  abundantly  than  at  other  times;  therefore 
the  moon  goddesses  were  regarded  as  dispensers  of  dew, 
and  as  protectresses  of  the  growth  of  plants,  as  well  as 
of  the  abundance  of  game  depending  on  vegetation  for 
food.      The  relation  to  human  fertility  which  is  promi- 
nent in  all  these  goddesses  is  probably  based  upon  the 
influence  that  the  moon  appears  to  exercise  upon  the 
life  of  women. 

56.  The  latter  characteristic  conies  into  the  foreground 
in  the   case  of   Hera  (Lat.    Juno),  who  was  worshiped 
throughout  Greece,  but  especially  in  Argos.     She  is  the 
protectress  of  wedlock  (H.  Zygia,  Teleia),  and  the  jealous 
representative  of   lawful  wives   and  their  rights.     The 
goddess   of   birth,   Ilithyia,   was   considered  to   be   her 
daughter.     The  festivals  in  honor  of  Hera  always  came 
on  the  day  of  the  new  moon,  and  likewise  the  celebra- 
tions of  her  marriage  with  Zeus  (tepos  ya/zos),  at  Argos  in 
the  spring,  at  Athens  in  the  month  of  weddings,  Gamelion 
(January— February).     Being  spouse  and  sister  of  Zeus, 
she  was  the  queen  of  the  gods,  and  as  such  Polyclitus 
represented  her  (about  420  B.C.)  in  his  statue  of  gold  and 
ivory  made  for  her  restored  temple,  which  was  situated 


44  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

between  Argos  and  Mycenae.  There  she  sat  upon  a 
throne,  fully  clothed,  a  crown  upon  her  head,  in  her 
right  hand  a  pomegranate,  which  on  account  of  its  many 
seeds  was  an  emblem  of  fruitfulness.  In  her  left  hand 
she  held  the  royal  scepter,  with  a  cuckoo,  the  messenger 
of  spring,  as  its  crown.  Similarly  it  is  as  a  queen 
that  she  appears  before  us  in  the  excellent  colossal  bust 
of  the  Villa  Ludovisi,  a  work  which  may  belong  to  about 
the  middle  of  the  fourth  century  B.C. 

57.  To  Artemis  (Lat.  Diana),  daughter  of   Zeus  and 
Leto,  and  twin  sister  of  Apollo,  was  attributed  particu- 
larly, besides  her  influence  upon  childbirth  (A.  Iltihyia), 
another  one  of  the  various  functions  of  moon  goddesses, 
namely,  a  fostering  care  over  the  abundant  game  in  field 
and  forest.    She  then  developed  into  the  goddess  of  hunt- 
ing (Agroteira),  probably  because,  being  a  light-goddess, 
she  is,  like  her   brother  Apollo,  armed  with  bow  and 
arrows ;  moreover,  the  swift  motion  of  the  moon  through 
the  so-called  Zodiac  reminds  one  of  a  hunt.     At  Athens 
the  festival  of  Elapliebolia  ('  stag  hunt')  was  celebrated 
in  her  honor,  and  the  hind  is  represented  as  her  constant 
companion.-    As  a  chaste  and  austere  maiden  she  pun- 
ished with   great   severity  every  violation   of   chastity. 
The  hunter  Actaeon,  son  of  Aristaeus,  who  had  acci- 
dentally surprised  her  and  her  attendant  nymphs  bath- 
ing, was  changed  by  her  into  a  stag,  that  his  own  dogs 
might  tear  him  to  pieces ;  and  on  similar  grounds  she 
killed  the  giant  hunter  Orion,  who  was  then  transferred 
as  a  constellation  to  the  sky. 

58.  The  many-breasted  goddess  of  Ephesus,  conceived 
of  as  the  nourisher  of  all  life,  was  so  similar  to  the  pro- 
tectress of  the  beasts  of  the  forest  and  field  that  she  also 


THE  GREEK  GODS  45 

was  called  Artemis ;  yet  she  seems  to  have  been  origi- 
nally, like  Ehea  and  Cybele,  only  a  local,  modified  type  of 
the  great  maternal  goddess  of  nature  and  war,  Ma  or 
Ammas  (' mother'),  who  was  worshiped  by  the  Indo- 
European  inhabitants  of  Asia  Minor.  To  the  nymphs 
attending  Artemis  as  huntresses  correspond  the  Ama- 
zones  ('  Amazons ?)  in  the  service  of  this  Asiatic  goddess. 
Evidently  they  were  originally  like  her,  and  lived,  accord- 
ing to  the  ancient  myth,  on  the  southern  coast  of  the 
Black  Sea,  i.e.  on  the  Thermodon  and  Iris  in  Pontus, 
while  the  chief  abode  of  Ma  herself  was  in  that  very 
region,  at  Comana  on  the  Iris.  The  Amazons  fought  as 
bold  riders  against  Bellerophon,  Hercules,  Theseus,  and 
Achilles.  Accordingly  they  are  represented  in  art  mostly 
as  powerful,  beautiful  riders,  with  short  garments  and 
semicircular  (or  Boeotian)  shields,  and  are  frequently 
armed  with  the  battle-axe.  Phidias  and  Polyclitus  made 
also  statues  representing  in  each  case  an  Amazon  fatigued 
by  the  exertions  of  battle. 

59.  In  Athens,  Delos,  and  Epidaurus,  Artemis  bore  the 
epithet  tKarrj  ('the  far-shooter7).  So  it  is  clear  that  the 
goddess  Hecate,  —  daughter  of  the  Titan  Perses  ('the 
shining  one')  and  Asteria  ('naiad  of  the  stars7), — 
although  her  worship  developed  quite  independently,  was 
by  nature  very  closely  related  to  Artemis.  Hecate  was 
worshiped  principally  in  Caria  and  the  adjacent  provinces 
of  Asia  Minor,  where  she  seems  to  have  been  an  ancient 
goddess  of  the  country.  In  Greece  proper  she  was  really 
worshiped  only  on  the  east  coast,  where  she  was  particu- 
larly honored  on  the  island  of  Aegina  by  secret  rites  or 
mysteries  (Hysteria).  In  earlier  times  she  was  repre- 
sented with  but  one  body,  fully  clothed,  in  her  hands  two 


46  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

burning  torches,  which  were  attributed  to  her  because 
of  her  character  as  a  goddess  of  light;  but  Alcamenes 
(toward  the  end  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.)  made  for  the 
Acropolis  at  Athens  a  figure  representing  her  as  having 
three  bodies  (T/OITT/OOO-CDTTOS,  triformis).  These  three  bodies 
were  placed  back  to  back  so  that  one  of  them  constantly, 
like  the  crescent  moon,  looked  towards  the  left,  another, 
like  the  waning  moon,  towards  the  right,  while  the  one 
standing  between  them,  like  the  full  moon,  turned  her  face 
towards  the  beholder.  The  dish  and  measure  that  she  car- 
ries in  representations  of  this  type  characterize  her  as  dis- 
penser of  dew.  Afterwards  her  worship  at  the  crossroads 
was  associated  with  these  figures,  and  hence  she  was  called 
Trioditis,  Lat.  Trivia  ('the  goddess  of  the  crossroads7). 

60.  Hecate  was  a  kind  of  patron  goddess  of  the  belief 
in  ghosts  and  witchcraft,  and,  as  a  natural  consequence,  a 
goddess  of  the  lower  world.     The  first  of  these  functions 
belongs  properly  to  the  moon  goddess  as  the  mistress  of 
the  dismal  nighttime ;  but  she  came  to  be  considered  a 
witch  because  she  herself,  i.e.  the  moon,  has  the  power  of 
changing  her  own  form,  a  trick  that  plays  an  important 
part  in  all  witchcraft.     Therefore  she  was  regarded  as 
the  mother  of  the  enchantresses  Circe  and  Medea  ('the 
shrewd/  'the  cunning  woman').      Her  association  with 
the  realm  of  the  dead,  however,  was  based  on  the  idea  that 
night  and  the  world  below  are  in  general  closely  related ; 
it  was  also  believed  that  at  its  setting  the  moon  sank  down 
into  the  lower  world,  so  that  a  subterranean  or  gloomy 
Hecate  (Ckthonia,  fikotia)  was  commonly  recognized. 

61.  After  the  activity  of  these  older  forms  had  thus 
passed  over  into  other  spheres,  Selene,  or  Mene,  assumed 
the  functions  of  the  moon  goddess  proper,  as  Helios  took 


THE  GREEK  GODS  47 

the  place  of  Apollo.  Therefore  in  worship,  which  kept 
strictly  to  the  ancient  ideas,  she  stood  quite  in  the 
background.  In  mythology  her  husband  or  lover  is 
Endymion.  He  probably  stands  for  the  sun  god  who 
has  entered  into  his  cavern  (eVSixo),  i.e.  the  sun  after  it 
has  set,  with  whom  the  moon  goddess  is  united  on  the 
night  of  new  moon.  According  to  the  Elean  version  of 
the  myth  she  brought  forth  fifty  daughters  begotten  by 
him,  the  representatives  of  the  fifty  months  in  the  cycle 
of  the  Olympian  games  ;  but  in  the  Carian  myth  the 
hunter,  or  herdsman,  Endymion,  was  sleeping  in  a  grotto 
of  Mount  Latmus,  when  Selene  approached  him  by 
stealth,  to  kiss  the  beautiful  sleeper. 

62.  The  heroines  Europa,  Pasiphae,  and  Antiope  (the 
mother  of  Amphion  and  of  Zethus)  are  to  be  regarded 
as  representatives  of  Selene,  and  may,  of  course,  be 
considered  rivals  of  Hera.  The  Cretan-Boeotian  Europa 
('  the  wide-seeing '),  daughter  of  Phoenix,  or  sister  of  Cad- 
mus and  daughter  of  Agenor  and  Telephassa  ('  the  far- 
shining  '  moon  goddess),  was  kidnaped  on  the  shores  of 
Sidon  or  Tyre  by  the  bull-formed  sun  god  Zeus  Asterios 
(a  divinity  probably  of  Phoenician  origin)  and  carried 
off  to  Crete,  where  she  became  the  mother  of  Minos 
and  Ehadamanthus.  A  Cretan  also,  and  perhaps  origi- 
nally like  her,  is  Pasiphae  ('  the  one  shining  on  all '),  the 
daughter  of  Helios  and  Perseis  ('the  glittering').  She 
became  the  mother  of  the  Minotaurus,  a  monster  which 
had  the  body  of  a  man  and  the  head  of  a  bull.  His 
father  was  the  Cretan  bull,  i.e.  the  same  bull-formed 
Zeus  Asterios,  whose  worship  was  prominent  at  Gortyna, 
with  whom  king  Minos  also,  the  husband  of  Pasiphae, 
must  probably  be  identified. 


48  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

63.  Iii  the  most  ancient  times  but  few  of  the  stars 
figured  in  mythology.     The  morning  star,  Heosphoros 
or  Phosphorus   ('  light-bringer/  Lat.  Lucifer},  is  repre- 
sented as  a  boy  carrying  a  torch ;  the  brilliant  constella- 
tion Orion,  as  a  giant  hunter,  with  club  raised  aloft. 
Orion  was  carried  off  by  Eos  and  killed   by  Artemis. 
His  dog  is  Sirius  ('the  glittering'),  the  brightest  of  all 
the  fixed  stars,  at  whose  rising  the  hottest  time  of  the 
year,  dog  days,  commences.     The  Bear  looks  anxiously 
around  at  Orion,  and  the  rain  goddesses,  the  starry  group 
of  the  Pleiades,  flee  before  his  snares.     Later,  after  the 
example  of  the  Babylonians,  all  the  individual  groups 
of  clear-shining  stars  were  conceived  of  as  picturesque 
figures,  and  by  tales  of  metamorphoses  were  associated 
with  the  older  mythical  beings. 

64.  First   among   the  light-divinities  of  another  sort 
stands  Eos  ('dawn/  Lat.  Aurora),  sister  of  Helios  and 
Selene.     As  dispenser  of  the  morning  dew  she   carries 
pitchers   in  her   hands.     The   brightness   of    the   daily 
phenomenon  which  she  represents  caused  to  be  attributed 
to  her  a  saffron-yellow  robe,  arms  and  fingers  beaming 
with  rosy  light,  and  glittering  white  wings.     On  account 
of  her  swiftness  she  is  frequently  represented  riding  in  a 
chariot.    Her  husband  was  Ti.th.omis,  a  brother  of  Priam ; 
her  son  Memnon  was  killed  by  Achilles.    As  she  had  car- 
ried off  Orion,  so  she  stole  TIthonus  away  when  he  was 
a  beautiful  youth,  and  obtained  for  him  from  Zeus  the 
grant  of  immortality,  but  not  of  eternal  youth.     There- 
fore he  withered  away  beside  her,  and  as  an  old  man, 
weakened  by  age,  passed  a  miserable  existence. 

65.  The  swiftness  with  which  the  rainbow  bends  itself 
from  heaven  down  to  earth  caused  Iris,  its  representative, 


THE  GREEK  GODS  49 

to  be  regarded  as  the  messenger  of  the  gods,  so  that  large 
wings  and  a  herald's  staff  (KYJPVKUOV)  were  attributed  to  her. 
In  the  older  parts  of  the  Iliad  she  appears  as  the  messenger 
of  Zeus ;  afterwards  Hermes  performs  this  function,  while 
she  serves  Hera.  As  the  rainbow  was  considered  the 
harbinger  of  rainy  weather,  Iris  was  said  to  be  wedded 
to  Zephyrus,  the  rain  wind.  (See,  further,  Dioscuri,  §  134.) 

Apollo  :  Homer,  II.  i.  9,  14 :  — 

Arjrovs  /ecu  Aids  vibs, 

€K7]p6\ov  >A7r6XXw^os,  et  passim. 
Ovid,  Her.  viii.  83 :  — 

Apollinis  arcus ; 
Met.  i.  452  sq.,  ii.  24  ;  Vergil,  Aen.  iv.  376  :  — 

Augur  Apollo, 

et  passim;  Hyginus,  Fab.  clxi. ;  Shak.,  Love's  Labour's  Lost  iv.  3, 

QJQ  . 

Bright  Apollo's  lute,  strung  with  his  hair. 

Milton,  Hymn  on  the  Nativity  176  :  — 

Apollo  from  his  shrine 
Can  no  more  divine, 

With  hollow  shriek  the  steep  of  Delphos  leaving. 
Pope,  Thebais  i.  577  :  — 

Reveres  Apollo's  vocal  caves ; 
i   739  •  _ 

But  fir'd  with  rage,  from  cleft  Parnassus'  brow 

Avenging  Phoebus  bent  his  deadly  bow. 

Shak.,  Taming  of  the  Shrew  Ind.  ii.  37,  Antony  and  Cleopatra  iv. 
8,  29,  King  Henry  VI.  pt.  iii.  ii.  6,  11,  Much  Ado  about  Nothing  v. 
3,  25,  Cymbeline  ii.  3,  20,  Hamlet  iii.  2,  165,  King  Henry  V.  iv.  1, 
289  ;  Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  i.  23,  ii.  29,  iv.  9. 

Leto:    Homer,  11.  xxi.  489  sq. ;   Ovid,  Met.  vi.  160;  Hyginus, 
Fab.  cxl. ;  Keats,  Endymion  i.  861 :  — 

Hearken,  sweet  Peona! 

Beyond  the  matron-temple  of  Latona. 

Python :    Ovid,   Met.  i.  438  sq. ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  cxl. ;   Pope, 
Thebais  i.  664  :  - 

When  by  a  thousand  darts  the  Python  slain 
With  orbs  unroll'd  lay  cov'riug  all  the  plain. 

E 


50  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Aristaeus:  Ovid,  Fast.  i.  363  sq. ;  Vergil,  Geor.  iv.  317  sq. 
Hyacinthus :  Ovid,  Met.  x.  185  sq. ;  Milton,  Death  of  an  Infant 

28  •  — 

For  so  Apollo,  with  unweeting  hand, 

Whilom  did  slay  his  dearly-loved  mate, 
Young  Hyacinth,  born  on  Eurotas'  strand, 
Young  Hyacinth,  the  pride  of  Spartan  land ; 

But  then  transformed  him  to  a  purple  flower, 
Alack,  that  so  to  change  thee  Winter  had  no  power! 

Phaethon:  Ovid,  Met.  ii.  34  sq.  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  clii.,  cliv. ; 
Swift,  Poem  Suggested  by  the  Hangings  in  Dublin  Castle  :  — 

Finding,  too  late,  he  can't  retire, 
He  proves  the  real  Phaeton, 
And  truly  sets  the  world  on  fire. 

Pope,  Weeping  13  :  — 

The  Baby  in  that  sunny  sphere 
So  like  a  Phaeton  appears. 

Shak.,  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona  iii.  1,  153,  King  Henry  VI.  pt. 
iii.  ii.  6,  12. 

Artemis  (Diana) :  Vergil,  Aen.  xi.  582  :  — 

Sola  contenta  Diana 

Aeternum  telorum  et  virginitatis  amorem 
Intemerata  colit. 

Ovid,  Amor.  iii.  2,  31,  Her.  iv.  87,  Met.  iii.  180  sq. ;  Horace,  Car. 
Saec.  1 ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  clxxxi. ;  Dryden,  The  Secular  Masque  27  :  — 

With  horns  and  with  hounds  I  waken  the  day, 
And  hie  to  the  woodland  walks  away  : 
I  tuck  up  my  robe,  and  am  buskined  soon, 
And  tie  to  my  forehead  a  wexing  moon. 

Pope,  Summer  62  :  — 

And  chaste  Diana  haunts  the  forest  shade. 

Shak.,  Midsummer  Night's  Dream  i.  1,  89,  Love's  Labour's  Lost 
iv.  2,  39,  Titus  Andronicus  i.  1,  316,  King  Henry  IV.  pt.  i.  i.  2,  29 ; 
Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  vii.  5 ;  Chaucer,  Knight's  Tale  824. 

Actaeon:  Ovid,  Met.  iii.  174  sq. ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  clxxx.;  Shak., 
Titus  Andronicus  ii.  3,  63. 

Orion:  Homer,  Od.  xi.  572;  Ovid,  Fast.  v.  493  sq. ;  Vergil,  Aen. 
i.  535  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  cxcv. ;  Cowper,  Translation  from  Milton,  To 
his  Father :  — 

Orion,  soften'd,  drops  his  ardent  blade. 


THE  GREEK  GODS  51 

Cybele:  Ovid,  Ars  Amat.  i.  507;  Vergil,  Aen.  iii.  Ill,  xi.  768; 
Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  vi.  15. 

Amazones :  Vergil,  Aen.  i.  490,  v.  311,  xi.  648  sq. ;  Hyginus, 
Fab.  clxiii. 

Hecate:  Ovid,  Fast.  i.  141,  Met.  xiv.  405;  Vergil,  Aen.  iv. 
609  ;  Greene,  Fr.  Bacon  and  Fr.  Bungay  ii.  176 :  — 

And  hell  and  Hecate  shall  fail  the  friar. 

Shak.,  Hamlet  iii.  2.  269,  King  Lear  i.  1,  112  ;  Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  i.  43. 
Europa :  Ovid,  Her.  iv.  55 :  — 

Juppiter  Europen  (primast  ea  gentis  origo) 
Dilexit,  tauro  dissimulante  deum; 

Met.  ii.  843  sq. ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  clxxviii. ;  Pope,  Thebais  i.  7 :  — 
Europa's  rape,  Agenor's  stern  decree. 

Shak. ,  Much  Ado  about  Nothing  v.  4,  45. 

Minotaurus :  Ovid,  Ars  Amat.  ii.  24,  Met.  viii.  152  sq.  ;  Vergil, 
Aen.  vi.  25;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xli.,  xlii.;  Chaucer,  Knight's  Tale  122. 

Eos  (Aurora):  The  dawn  goddess  (Sanskrit  US  AS)  is  celebrated 
in  21  hymns  of  the  Rig  Veda.  Praises  are  addressed  to  her  for 
all  the  blessings  of  the  light.  So  we  find  the  sacredness  of  the 
dawn  in  the  literature  of  Greece  and  Rome.  Homer,  II.  ii.  48 :  — 

'Hobs  fJitv  pa  Oea  Trpoae^a-ero  /ma.Kpbi>"0\viJLirov. 

Ovid,  Met.  iii.  149:  — 

Altera  lucem 

Cum  croceis  invecta  rotis  Aurora  reducet  ; 
Her.  iii.  57,  xvii.  112 ;  Vergil,  Aen.  iv.  585 :  — 

Tithoni  croceum  linquens  Aurora  cubile ; 
Geor.  iv.  544,  Aen.  iv.  7;  Hyginus,  Fab.  clxxxiii.;  Spenser,  F.  Q.  i. 

Now  when  the  rosy-fingred  morning  faire 
Weary  of  aged  Tithones'  saffron  bed ; 

xi.  51 ;  Shak.,  Midsummer  Night's  Bream  iii.  2,  380. 

Tithonus :  Ovid,  Amor.  ii.  5,  35,  Fast.  vi.  473. 

Iris:  Homer,  II.  ii.  passim;  Ovid,  Met.  i.  271;  Vergil,  Aen.  ix. 
803  ;  Milton,  Comus  83  :  — 

These  my  sky-robes  spun  out  of  Iris'  woof. 
Shak.,  The  Tempest  iv.  1,  70. 


52  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 


II.    THE   DIVINITIES   OF   THE  EARTH 

66.  It  was  probably  at  a  later  date  than  the  develop- 
ment of  most  of  the  divinities  thus  far  discussed,  who 
embody  forces  operating  in  the  sky  and  the  air,  that 
another   series  of   real   divinities   grew  up,   out  of  the 
individual  beings  to  whose  activity  were  ascribed  the 
forces  operating  on  the  earth  itself  in  fire,  water,  and 
the  fruit-bearing  soil.     The  activity  of  these  divinities 
was  therefore  now  no  longer  confined   to   a  particular 
spot   and  a  single   action;    but   they  were   believed  to 
exert  their  power  in  a  similar  manner  in  all  phenomena 
of  the  same  sort. 

1.    THE  GODDESS  OF  FIRE 

67.  Among    these    divinities,    Hestia    (( hearth/    Lat. 
Vesta) ,  the  representative  of  the  hearth  fire,  was  in  wor- 
ship hardly  distinguished  at  all,  as  a  rule,  from  the  ele- 
ment which  she  represented.     To  be  sure,  she  took  part 
in  all  sacrifices  at  which  fire  was  necessary,  but  was 
seldom  actually  represented   as   an   individual.      When 
so  represented,  it  was  as  a  maiden  clothed  in  a  long 
garment  and  veiled,  holding  a  dish  or  a  scepter. 

Hestia:  See  Vesta  (after  §  206). 

2.   WATER  DIVINITIES 

68.  Most  of  the  water  divinities,  likewise,  remained 
always  very  closely  associated  with  their  element;  only 
certain  ones  of  them,  —  in  particular,  Poseidon,  the  ruler 
of  the  sea,  and  the  Centauri  (<  Centaurs ')  and  Sileni,  — 
under  the  influence  of  worship,  myth,  and  art,  devel- 


THE  GREEK  GODS  53 

oped  into  richly-endowed  personalities.  Oceanus  is  a 
mere  personification  of  the  ocean  itself,  which  flows 
around  the  earth  like  a  stream.  From  him  were  sup- 
posed to  proceed  not  only  springs,  rivers,  and  seas,  but 
also  all  other  things,  even  the  gods  themselves,  in  har- 
mony with  the  conceptions  of  the  physical  world  adopted 
by  the  most  ancient  philosophers,  which  were  suggested 
by  the  island-like  situation  of  Greece.  Therefore  Oceanus 
was  represented  as  a  fatherly  old  man.  He  was  said  to 
live  with  his  wife,  Tethys  ('  nurse/  '  grandmother '),  on 
the  western  border  of  the  earth,  without  frequenting  the 
assembly  of  the  gods. 

69.  Somewhat  like  Oceanus,  but  more  exactly  charac- 
terized, was  the  Hallos  Geron  ('  old  man  of  the  sea '), 
who  dwelt  in  a  grotto  deep  down  in  the  sea,  and  not 
only  knew  all  the  secrets  of  his  element,  but,  like  the 
sea  gods  of  the  Babylonians  and  the  Germans,  possessed 
inscrutable  wisdom.  But  whoever  wished  to  question 
him  must  first  overpower  him  in  a  wrestling  contest, 
and,  in  spite  of  his  faculty  for  assuming  various  forms, 
like  the  water  itself,  must  compel  him  to  impart  his 
knowledge. 

From  him  were  derived,  differently  named  at  different 
places,  the  sea  gods  Kereus  (' flowing'),  Proteus  ('the 
firstborn '),  and  Phorcys,  as  well  as  Triton  (<  the  stream- 
ing'), and  Glaucus  ('the  glittering').  Of  these  the  first 
three  were  represented  in  human  form ;  Nereus  and 
Proteus  possessed  the  gift  of  prophecy  and  of  changing 
their  forms ;  while  Phorcys  and  his  wife  Ceto  ('  sea 
monster ')  ruled  over  the  sea  monsters  and  other 
monsters.  On  the  other  hand,  Halios  Geron,  Triton, 
and  Glaucus,  probably  by  association  with  Assyrio- 


54  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Babylonian  prototypes  of  this  sort  of  sea  gods,  prototypes 
which  had  reached  Greece  through  the  Phoenicians  and 
lonians,  were,  at  a  later  period,  still  regularly  represented 
as  heterogeneous  monstrosities  in  which  a  fish's  belly  was 
joined  to  the  upper  part  of  a  human  body,  a  shape  that 
developed  itself  in  the  same  way  as  the  forms  of  the 
river  gods,  Centaurs,  and  Satyrs. 

70.  By  the  side  of  these  lower  sea  divinities  stand  the 
Nereides,  i.e.  daughters  of  Nereus,  as  representatives  of 
the  friendly  forces  operating  in  the  sea,  or,  conceived 
of  from  the  standpoint  of  the  senses,  as  embodiments  of 
the  playful,  bewitching  waves.  They  were  represented 
in  the  form  of  beautiful  maidens,  among  whom  Amphi- 
trite  ('  the  one  streaming  all  around 7),  wife  of  Poseidon, 
Thetis,  the  mother  of  Achilles,  and  Galatea  ('the  milk- 
white  one7),  the  shy  maiden  loved  by  the  Cyclops 
Polyphemus,  are  especially  prominent.  Akin  to  them  is 
Ino-Leucothea,  whose  aid  was  invoked  in  perils  on  the 
sea;  for  the  Nereids  themselves  are  called  also  Leuco- 
theae  (( white  goddesses 7).  In  another  aspect  she  became 
a  secondary  form  of  Aphrodite-Astarte,  who  is  powerful 
on  the  sea,  just  as  her  son  Melicertes  was  developed 
from  the  sun  god  and  city  god  Melkart,  of  Tyre.  Like 
Melkart,  Melicertes  was  worshiped  as  a  protector  of 
sailors.  Yet  he  was  represented  as  a  child  in  the  arms 
of  his  mother,  who,  it  was  said,  in  a  fit  of  madness  had 
cast  herself  with  him  into  the  sea ;  sometimes,  however, 
he  appears  standing  upon  a  dolphin.  His  other  name, 
Palaemon  (< wrestler7),  refers  to  his  taking  part  in  the 
celebration  of  the  Isthmian  games.  He  had  a  sanctuary 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Corinth,  a  city  which  had  been  an 
old  Phoenician  mart. 


THE   GREEK  GODS  55 

71.  The  destructive  power  of  the  threatening   rocks 
and  whirlpools  in  the  sea  was  personified  in  the  imagi- 
nary sea  monsters  Scylla  and  Charybdis.      The  former 
appears  as  a  maiden,  out  of  whose  body  grow  six  dogs' 
heads,  which  pull  the  rowers  out  of  ships ;  but  Charyb- 
dis is  described  by  Homer  in  general  only  as  a  monster 
that  three  times  a  day  sucks  high  water  in.     Both  were 
in  later  times  localized  in  the  straits  of  Messina. 

72.  Of  a  more  exalted  nature  than  any  of  these  beings 
is  Poseidon  (Lat.  Neptunus),  brother  of  Zeus  and  Hades. 
He  is  the  ruler  of  the  sea,  and,  at  the  same  time,  of  all 
waters  in  general.     As  a  symbol  of  his  power,  and  as  a 
weapon  with  which  he  can  cleave  the  rocks  and  cut  val- 
leys in  the  mountains,  he  carries  a  trident,  really  a  sort 
of  harpoon  which  was  used  by  fishermen  in  spearing 
dolphins  and  tunny.      He  was  the  national  god  of  the 
lonians,  who  lived   chiefly  by  fishing   and   sailing  the 
sea,  just  as  his  son  Theseus  was  their  national   hero. 
Yet   his   worship   is   more    ancient   than   that   of  The- 
seus ;   for  as  early  as  the  Ionian  migration  it  reached 
Asia,  where  the  Panidnia  were  celebrated  in  his  honor 
on  the  promontory  Mycale  as  a  festival  of  the  united 
Ionian  colonies.      To  these  corresponded  in  the  father- 
land the  games  established  by   Sisyphus   and  Theseus 
on  the   isthmus    of   Corinth,   which  were   originally  as 
purely    Ionian    as    the    old    Amphictyonia    ('  sacrificial 
league')  of  Poseidon  at  Calaunia  near  Troezen.      Sanc- 
tuaries of  Poseidon  were  situated  in  many  places,  all 
over  the  Peloponnesus   and   on   other  coasts  ;    but   his 
dwelling  place  was  said  to  be,  with  his  wife  Amphitrite, 
in  a  golden  palace  in  the  depths  of  the  sea,  near  Aegae 
in  Achaia. 


56  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

73.  As  all  springs  and  rivers  flow  from  Oceanus,  so 
Poseidon  is  the  ruler  of  them  all,  evidently  because  it 
was  supposed  that  they  had  a  subterranean  connection 
with  the  sea,  which  embraces  all  the  land  (Gaieochos) 
and   penetrates   it.      Earthquakes   were  thought  to  be 
caused  by  these  subterranean  waters,  and  Poseidon  was 
therefore  called  the  earth-shaker  (Ennosigaios).     So  he 
was   worshiped   in   many  inland   localities   also,  where 
inland   lakes,  rapid   rivers,  or   earthquakes,   seemed   to 
prove   the   presence  of  his  power,  as  was  the  case  in 
Boeotia,   Thessaly,   and    Arcadia.     Yet,   since   he    thus 
represented    the    fructifying   moisture   emanating   from 
springs   and   rivers,   he   became   also   the   protector   of 
plant  growth  (Phytalmios),  and  therefore  was  associated 
with  Demeter. 

74.  The  animal  usually  sacrificed  to  Poseidon,  which 
was  likewise  his  symbol,  was  the  horse ;  and  so  he  rides 
along  over  the  sea  in  a  chariot  drawn  by  dark  horses 
with  golden  manes,  whenever  he  commands  the  waves 
and  winds.      In  the  form  of  a  horse  (P.  Hippios)  he 
begot   Arion,   the   battle   horse   of   Adrastus,   from    an 
Erinys  or  Harpy,  or  by  a  thrust  of  his  trident  caused 
him  to  spring  forth  from  a  rock,  just  as  in  a  similar 
manner  in  the  contest  with  Athena  he  called  into  being 
a  salt  spring  on  the  Acropolis  of  Athens. 

75.  Besides  the  horse,  the  bull  (representing  the  wild 
might  of  the  waves),  and,  in  sharp  contrast,  the  dolphin, 
which  appears  chiefly  when  the  sea  is  quiet,  are  sacred 
and  dear  to  Poseidon.     In  art,  Poseidon  is  represented  as 
similar  to  Zeus,  only  there  appears  in  the  features  of  the 
former  less  of  the  lofty  repose  than  of   the  powerful 
might  which  the  nature  of  his  being  calls  for.     Usually 


THE  GREEK  GODS  57 

one  foot  is  raised,  a  characteristic  attitude  of  fishermen 
and  sailors ;  in  the  works  of  art  belonging  to  more 
ancient  times  he  is  entirely  clothed,  afterwards  the  upper 
part  of  his  body  is  uncovered. 

76.  Like  the  waves  of  the  sea,  rapid  rivers,  by  their 
ungovernable  power,  and  their  roaring,  which  resembles 
bellowing,  gave  rise  to  the  idea  that  in  every  such  stream 
a  prodigious  bull  manifested  his  activity.     Therefore  in 
very  ancient  times  the  representations  of  river  gods  were 
formed  like  bulls,  with  a  human  countenance.     But  as 
early  as  the  time  of  Homer,  they  appear  in  human  form 
throughout ;  and  only  rarely  does  the  later  art  indicate 
their  nature  by  little  bulls'  horns,  but  usually  makes 
them  recognizable  by  the  attribute  of  an  urn.     The  most 
important  of  them  are  Achelous,  the  opponent  of  Her- 
cules, and  Alpheiis,  the   lover  of  the  fountain  nymph 
Arethusa,  who  fled  before  his  wooing  through  the  sea  to 
the  peninsula  Ortygia  at  Syracuse.     The  most  beautiful 
statue  of  a  river  god  which  can  be  definitely  identified  is 
that  of  the  Nile,  now  in  the  Vatican  museum. 

77.  The  Centaurs  and  Sileni  also  were  probably  river 
gods,  and  may  originally  have  come  to   be   considered 
companions   of   Dionysus   on   account  of  the  insatiable 
thirst  implied  by  their  nature ;  of  course  they  are  also 
very  closely  connected  with  him  on  account  of  the  rela- 
tion  of  water  to   the   fruitfulness   of   the   earth.      The 
Aeolic-Thessalian  Centaurs,  sons  of  Ixion  and  Nephele 
(' cloud7),  were  natives  of   the  mountains  of  Thessaly, 
particularly  of  Pelion  and  Ossa,  also  of  Pholoe  on  the 
western  border  of  Arcadia,  and  are  probably  to  be  re- 
garded as  embodiments  of  the  wild,  rushing  streams  of 
these   mountains.     So   their   origin  is   the   cloud;   they 


58  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

rage,  devastate  tilled  lands,  carry  off  women  (just  as 
Acheloiis  and  Alpheiis  were  ardent  suitors),  hurl  rocks 
and  trees  torn  up  by  the  roots,  and  hunt,  i.e.  surprise, 
the  wild  animals  hiding  in  the  dry  channels,  and  carry 
them  along  with  them.  Like  the  waves  of  the  sea,  which 
go  swiftly  raging  by,  they  are  represented  as  having 
the  form  of  a  horse.  In  the  oldest  sculptures  the  hinder 
part  of  a  horse's  body  is  simply  joined  to  the  back  of 
a  complete  human  body ;  later,  the  human  body  near 
the  hips  is  represented  as  changing  into  the  forequarters 
of  a  horse,  producing  a  formation  which  reminds  one  of 
the  shape  of  the  river  gods  and  Tritons.  The  Centaurs 
fought  (by  inundations  ?)  in  the  plains  of  Thessaly  with 
that  mythical-historical  people,  the  Lapithae  ('  stone- 
men  ').  The  Lapithae  may  be  regarded  as  the  builders 
of  the  rocky  citadels  of  Thessaly  (and  closely  related 
to  the  Phlegyae  and  Minyae),  especially  since  the  in- 
habitants of  most  of  these  localities  venerated  as  their 
founders  heroes  of  the  Lapithae  with  names  similar  to 
those  of  the  places  themselves. 

78.  The  king  of  the  Lapithae  was  Ixion,  son  of 
Phlegyas.  Ixion  was  regarded  as  the  father  of  the 
Centaurs.  Because  he  had  boasted  of  the  favor  of 
Hera,  Zeus  caused  him  to  be  punished  by  being  twisted 
upon  a  swiftly-turning  wheel  in  the  lower  world.  He 
was  succeeded  by  his  son  Pirithous,  the  friend  of  The- 
seus. In  consequence  of  their  mania  for  drink,  an  idea 
whose  origin  can  be  easily  explained  in  the  nature  of 
wild  torrents,  the  Centaurs  came  into  conflict  with  Her- 
cules, as  well  as  with  Theseus  and  Pirithous,  and  in 
such  struggles  were  annihilated  by  those  heroes.  Quite 
unlike  the  other  Centaurs  was  Chiron  ('the  handy/ 


THE  GREEK  GODS  59 

'  skillful '),  who  is  probably  to  be  considered  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  a  brook  that  did  not  produce  devastation. 
He  dwelt  in  a  cave  on  Mount  Pelion,  and  was  celebrated 
as  a  physician  and  prophet.  (Cf.  'the  old  man  of  the 
sea/  §  69.)  So  he  became  the  friend  and  tutor  of  the 
heroes  Achilles,  Jason,  and  Aesculapius,  just  as  Silenus, 
the  genius  of  the  fountain,  cared  for  the  young  Dionysus. 

79.  The  Sileni  were  Ionian-Phrygian  gods  of  rivers 
and  springs.     Their  bodies,  like  those  of  the  Centaurs, 
were   originally  half   man   and   half   horse.      As   their 
chief  representative  appears  the  Silenus   Marsyas,  the 
god  of  the  river    rising  at  Celaenae   in   Phrygia.      As 
the   inventor  of  the   Phrygian   art   of   playing   on   the 
flute  he  was  said  to  have  challenged  Apollo,  the  player 
of  the  lyre,  to  a  contest,  and,  when  vanquished  by  him, 
to   have   been   flayed   alive   for  his   presumption.     His 
skin   was   said  to   have   been   then   inflated   and   hung 
up  near  his  spring  in  Celaenae.     Yet,  as  skins  served 
as  vessels  for  water,  perhaps  the   skin  was   originally 
attributed  to  him,  as  the  urn  was  to  the  river  gods,  only 
as  a  symbol  of  his  character ;  and  so  possibly  the  story 
of  this  contest  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  later  invention  to 
explain  the  attribute.     In  Athens  the  Sileni  accompany- 
ing Dionysus   were   confused  with    the    Peloponnesian 
Satyrs.     The  latter  had  the  form  of  a  goat,  and  about 
the  time  of  Pisistratus  had  been  introduced  from  Cor- 
inth as  a  feature  of  the  festal  songs  and  dances  of  the 
greater  Dionysia. 

80.  The  animating  force  of  water  was  represented  par- 
ticularly by  the  Nymphae  ('Nymphs'),  who,  being  pic- 
tured to  the  imagination  as  young  maidens  or  women, 
lightly   clad,   freely    giving    fruitfulness    of    all    kinds, 


60  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

appeared  in  every  place  where  water  exhibited  a  simi- 
lar effect.  This  happened  most  naturally  at  the  springs 
which  had  served  as  places  for  worship  since  most  ancient 
times.  The  Naiades  ('Naiads'),  who  represented  such 
springs,  were  more  exactly  distinguished  by  mussel  shells 
or  other  receptacles  for  water.  But  Nymphs  were  almost 
as  frequent  wherever  an  abundance  of  water  produced 
luxuriant  plant  growth;  and  so  the  Oreades  had  their 
abode  in  the  forests  and  pastures  of  the  mountains. 
Moreover,  the  vital  strength  of  every  individual  tree  was 
explained  as  the  activity  of  a  soul-like  nymph  living  in 
and  together  with  it,  who  was  designated  as  a  Dryad 
('  tree  nymph  ')  or  Hamadryad  (<  the  one  united  with  the 
tree  7).  Accordingly  a  nymph  was  supposed  to  live  only 
so  long  as  she  was  herself  effective  in  the  object  whose 
vital  power  she  represented.  If  the  spring  dried  up,  or 
the  tree  withered,  the  nymph  also  died.  This  kind  of 
nymph  marks  an  intermediate  step  between  the  divini- 
ties of  water,  and  the  special  divinities  of  growth. 

Oceanua  :  Hesiod,  Theog.  133  ;  Homer,  II.  xiv.  246  :  — 
6s  irep  ytvevis  TravrecrffL  T^TU/CTCU, 


et  passim  ;  Ovid,  Fast.  v.  81  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  clxxxii. 
Tethys  :  Homer,  II.  xiv.  201  :  — 


re 

Ovid,  Met.  ix.  499  ;  Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  iii.  31. 

Nereus:  Ovid,  Amor.  ii.  11,  39;  Vergil,  Aen.  ii.  419;  Horace, 
Od.  i.  15,  5  ;  Milton,  Comus  871  :- 

By  hoary  Nereus'  wrinkled  look. 

Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  iii.  31. 

Proteus  :  Homer,  Od.  iv.  365,  385  sq.  ;  Ovid,  Met.  viii.  730 
sq.  ;  Vergil,  Geor.  iv.  429  sq.  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  cxviii.  ;  Pope, 
Dunciad  ii.  129  :  — 


THE  GREEK  GODS  61 

So  Proteus,  hunted  in  a  nobler  shape, 
Became,  when  seiz'd,  a  puppy,  or  an  ape. 

Shak.,  King  Henry  VI.  pt.  iii.  iii.  2,  192 ;  Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  ii.  10. 

Triton :  Hesiod,  Theog.  931 ;  Vergil,  Aen.  i.  144,  x.  209 ;  Ovid, 
Met.  ii.  8  ;  Milton,  Comus  873  :  — 

By  scaly  Triton's  winding  shell. 

Shak.,  Coriolanus  iii.  1,  89. 

Glaucus  :  Ovid,  Met.  xiv.  9  sq.,  Ibis  555  ;  Milton,  Comus 
874:  — 

And  old  soothsaying  Glaucus'  spell. 

Nereides  :  Homer,  II.  xviii.  37  sq. ;  Ovid,  Amor.  ii.  11, 35,  Met. 
xi.  361. 

Amphitrite  :  Ovid,  Met.  i.  14  ;  Keats,  Endymion  ii.  108  :  — 

I  would  offer 

All  the  bright  riches  of  my  crystal  coffer 
To  Amphitrite. 

Thetis :  Homer,  II.  i.  351,  et  passim,  xviii.  35  sq. ;  Ovid,  Met. 
xi.  221  sq. ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  liv.;  Shak.,  Troilus  and  Cressida  i.  3, 
38,  Pericles  iv.  4,  41. 

Ino  (Leucothea)  :  Homer,  Od.  v.  333  ;  Hesiod,  Theog.  976  ; 
Ovid,  Met.  iv.  488  sq.  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  ii.,  iv. 

Melicertes  (Palaemon)  :  Ovid,  Met.  iv.  523  sq. ;  Hyginus,  Fab. 
i.,  ii. 

Charybdis ;  Scylla :  Homer,  Od.  xii.  104  sq. ;  Ovid,  Met. 
xiii.  730  sq.,  Ibis  385;  Vergil,  Aen.  i.  200,  iii.  420;  Milton, 
Par.  L.  ii.  1019  :  - 

Or  when  Ulysses  on  the  larboard  shunn'd 
Charybdis,  and  by  the  other  whirlpool  steer'd  ; 

ii.  660 :  — 

Vex'd  Scylla  bathing  in  the  sea  that  parts 

Calabria  from  the  hoarse  Trinacrian  shore. 

Poseidon  (Neptunus)  :  Hesiod,  Theog.  15 ;  Ovid,  Epis.  xviii. 
129 ;  Vergil,  Geor.  i.  14,  Aen.  i.  125  sq. ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  clvii. ; 
Pope,  Rape  of  the  Lock  v.  50  :  - 

Blue  Neptune  storms,  the  bellowing  deeps  resound. 

Shak.,  The  Tempest  v.  1,  35,  Coriolanus  iii.  1,  256,  King  Richard  II. 
ii.  1,  63,  Macbeth  ii.  2,  60,  Antony  and  Cleopatra  ii.  7,  139  ;  Spenser, 
F.  Q.  i.  iii.  32,  xi.  54. 


62  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Acheloiis  :  Ovid,  Met.  viii.  547  sq. 
Alpheus:  Vergil,  Aen.  iii.  694:- 

Alpheum  fama  est  hue  Elidis  amnem 
Occultas  egisse  vias  subter  mare. 

Ovid,  Met.  v.  599  sq. ;  Pope,  Thebais  i.  383  :  — 

Where  first  Alpheus  hides 
His  wand'ring  stream,  and  thro'  the  briny  tides 
Unmix'd  to  his  Sicilian  river  glides. 

Milton,  Lycidas  132  :  — 

Return,  Alpheus,  the  dread  voice  is  past, 
That  shrunk  thy  streams. 

Arethusa :  Ovid,  Met.  v.  573  sq. ;  Vergil,  Geor.  iv.  344  sq. ; 
Milton,  Lycidas  85  :  — 

O  fountain  Arethuse,  and  thou  honour'd  flood. 

Centauri  (Centaurs):  Hesiod,  Shield  of  Herakles  178  sq. ;  Ovid, 
Met.  xii.  210  sq.  ;  Vergil,  Aen.  x.  195  sq.  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xxxiii. ; 
Pope,  Vertumnus  and  Pomona  71 ;  Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  xi.  27. 

Lapithae  :  Ovid,  Met.  xii.  250  sq. ;  Vergil,  Geor.  ii.  457  ;  Hygi- 
nus, Fab.  xxxiii. 

Ixion:  Pindar,  Pyth.  ii.  21-24  ;  Vergil,  Geor.  iii.  38  ;  Hyginus, 
Fab.  Ixii. ;  Pope,  Ode  on  St.  Cecilia's  Day  67  :  — 

Ixion  rests  upon  his  wheel ; 
Rape  of  the  Lock  ii.  133 ;  Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  v.  35. 

Phlegyas:  Ovid,  Met.  v.  87;  Vergil,  Aen.  vi.  618;  Pope, 
Thebais  i.  851 :  — 

In  Phlegyas'  doom  thy  just  revenge  appears, 
Condemn'd  to  furies  and  eternal  fears ; 
He  views  his  food,  but  dreads,  with  lifted  eye, 
The  mould'ring  rock  that  trembles  from  on  high. 

Marsyas:  Ovid,  Met.  vi.  382  sq.,  Fast.  vi.  707  ;  Hyginus,  Fab. 
clxv. 

Naiades :  Homer,  Od.  x.  350  sq. ;  Ovid,  Fast.  i.  405,  Met.  i.  pas- 
sim; Vergil,  Eel.  x.  10,  Geor.  ii.  passim,  Aen.  i.  passim;  Keats, 

Endymion  ii.  690 :  —  . ,    ,  ,, 

Art  a  maid  of  the  waters, 

One  of  shell-winding  Triton's  bright-hair'd  daughters? 
Pope,  Fable  of  Dry  ope  18 :  — 

And  to  the  Naiads  flowery  garlands  brought. 
Shak.,  The  Tempest  iv.  1,  128. 


THE  GREEK  GODS  63 

3.   DIVINITIES  OF  GROWTH 

81.  The  vital  force  that  shows  itself  in  the  fruitful- 
ness  of  the  ground  the  ancients  could  not  explain  except 
on  the  hypothesis  that  such  forces  were  to  be  traced  to 
living  beings,  whose   activity  was   patterned  after  the 
analogy  of  the  reproduction  of  animals  or  human  beings. 
Therefore  it  was  assumed  that  in  the  ground  were  effec- 
tive male  and  female  divinities.     With  the  former  was 
associated  the   idea  of  fructifying  moisture;    with  the 
latter,   that   of  the   reception   and   absorption   of   such 
moisture   and   the   development   of   the   seed   into    the 
plant.      For  the  same  reason  fructification  appears   as 
an  important  element  in  the  nature  of  those  gods  espe- 
cially connected  with  water  in  the  sky  and  on   earth, 
the  rain-bringers  Zeus  and  Hermes,  Poseidon,  the  river 
gods,  and  the  Centaurs ;  and  in  the  Satyrs,  Pan,  and  Dio- 
nysus, this  idea  has  embodied  itself  quite  independently. 
On  the  other  hand,  Demeter,  Gaea,  and  the  originally  for- 
eign goddess,  Rhea-Cybele  (to  whom  the  Ephesian  Artemis 
and  Aphrodite  are  akin),  are  goddesses  of  the  receptive 
fruitfulness  of  the  earth.     The  nymphs  discussed  above 
(§  80)  are  very  closely  related  to  these  goddesses. 

82.  The  SatyrI  ('  Satyrs ?)  are  the  only  individual  divini- 
ties found,  in  more  recent  times,  that  originally  belonged 
to  the  Peloponnesus.     There  the  mountain  districts  were 
inhabited  principally  by  goatherds,  whose  imagination  em- 
bodied the  fruitfulness  of  the  earth  in  the  form  of  the 
he-goat,  because  to  them  this  animal  naturally  appeared 
to  be  the  one  especially  adapted  to  produce  fruitfulness. 
In  their  transition  into  human  form,  the  Satyrs  retained 
from  this  earlier  stage  of  development  the  goat's  ears  and 
the  little  tail  as  symbols  indicating  their  nature. 


64  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

83.  Closely  allied  to  the  Satyrs  is  the  exclusively  Arca- 
dian shepherd  god  Pan  ('the  feeder '),  whose  father  was 
the   shepherd   god   Hermes,  and   whose   mother  was   a 
daughter  of  Dry  ops,  i.e.  a  Dryad.     For,  like  the  Satyrs, 
he   is   represented  in   the   form   of    a   he-goat,   and   so 
may   probably   be   considered   merely   a  type   of   these 
fructifying  divinities,  who  was  transformed  by  the  im- 
agination of  the  Arcadian  shepherds  into  a  divine  shep- 
herd.    First  of  all  he  produces  fruitfulness  and  increase 
of  the  flocks.     Moreover,  like  the  shepherds  themselves, 
in  the   summer  he  dwells   in   the   rocky  caves   of   the 
mountains,  and  in  the  winter  descends  into  the  plains. 
In  the  heat  of  midday  he  rests,  at  evening  he   plays 
the  shepherd's  flute  (syrinx) ;   and  as  accessory  employ- 
ments he  carries  on  hunting,  fishing,  and  war.     Yet  it 
is  he  that  inspires  in  the  flocks,  and  likewise  in  their 
masters,  sudden  fright  ('  panic '),  hurrying  them  along 
into  unreasoning  flight.     His  love  for  the  moon  goddess 
Selene  is  probably  to  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  moon- 
shine assures  to  the  flocks  a  favorable  pasturage,  fresh 
with  dew. 

84.  His  worship  spread  from  Arcadia  by  the  way  of 
Argolis'and  Athens  to  Parnassus  and  even  to  Thessaly. 
In  later  times,  on  account  of  the  relation  between  his  na- 
ture and  that  of  Dionysus,  he  came  to  be  looked  upon  as 
an  attendant  of  that  god,  probably  by  being  associated 
with  the  Satyrs.     Finally,  the  theorizing  of  the  philoso- 
phers, by  changing  the  signification  of  his  name  (making 
TO  TTOLV  =  '  the  universe '),  and  by  comparing  him  to  the 
great  goat-shaped  god  of  Mendes,  in  Egypt,  transformed 
him  into  a  great,  all-powerful  ruler  and  pervading  spirit 
of  the  life  of  nature  as  a  whole,  at  whose  death  all  this  life 


THE  GREEK  GODS  65 

of  nature  dies  away.  He  was  represented  as  bearded, 
with  the  legs,  tail,  ears,  and  horns  of  a  he-goat;  often, 
however,  in  human  'form,  distinguished  only  by  the 
animal-like  expression  of  his  face. 

85.  Dionysus  (Lat.  Bacchus)  himself,  the  most  impor- 
tant of  these  divinities  of   fruitfulness,  was  once   rep- 
resented in  animal  form,  namely,  that  of  a  bull,  richly 
endowed  with  procreative  power,  as  is  seen  from  certain 
of  the  customs  of  his  worship  in  Argos  and  Elis ;  and  at 
a  later  period  the  bull  and  the  he-goat  were  still  consid- 
ered the  most  acceptable  offerings  to  him.     Nevertheless, 
the  worship  of  Dionysus  ('  Zeus-man ?  or  '  Zeus-hero ')  had 
its  origin,  properly  speaking,  in  Thrace ;  and  from  there, 
by  an  emigration  of  part  of  the  inhabitants  toward  the 
southwest,  it   reached  Phocis   and   Boeotia,  and,  later, 
Attica  also.     The  Phocians  w.ere  closely  related  to  the 
Phrygians  of  Asia  Minor,  among  whom  he  was  worshiped, 
under  the  name  Sdbazius,  as  son  of  Ma,  the  mother  of 
the  gods. 

86.  In  his  native  home,  and  later  also  in  Greece,  the 
worship   of    the   god  was    celebrated    by   women,   who 
in  sensual  ecstasy,  carrying   torches,  reveled  by  night 
through  the   mountain   forests   in   so-called   'orgies/   a 
word  that  is  connected  with  6/oyaw  ('  to  swell  with  fructify- 
ing moisture').    These  devotees  of  his  became  in  mythol- 
ogy sometimes  his  nurses,  the  nymphs,  and  sometimes 
his   attendants,  the   Bacchae    ('  exulting   ones '),   Maen- 
ades    ('  raving   ones '),    and    Thyiades    ('  raging    ones '). 
To   fill   themselves    (and   typically,    at   the   same   time, 
the  rural  districts  represented  by  them)  with  new  pro- 
creative  power,  they  tore  in  pieces  young  animals  (and, 
in  the   earliest   times,   probably   even   children)    which 


66  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

had  been  dedicated  to  the  god,  and  which,  according  to 
the  older  idea,  filled  his  place.  Then  they  drank  the 
blood,  which  was  regarded  as  the  seat  of  vital  strength, 
devoured  the  raw  flesh,  and  wrapped  themselves  in  the 
fresh  skin.  At  the  same  time  with  a  loud  voice  they  be- 
sought the  god  (whom  at  the  time  of  the  winter  solstice 
fancy  pictured  as  a  sleeping  child  in  a  winnowing  fan)  to 
dispense  fruitfulness  in  the  year  just  beginning.  The 
god  was  called  also  Bacchus  or  lacchus  from  the  shouts 
uttered  by  them. 

87.  It  was  for  the  same  purpose  that  in  the  rural  dis- 
tricts of  Attica  the  phallus  was  carried  about  during  the 
lesser  Dionysia,  which  came  at  the  same  time  in  the  year 
(Poseideon  =  December-January).     In  Athens  itself,  at 
the  festival  of  the  Anthesteria  ('  flower  festival ?),  this 
favor  of  the  god  was  sought  by  the  ceremony  of  his  sym- 
bolic marriage  with  a  queen  representing  the  soil.     In 
the  times  of  the  republic  her  place  was  filled  by  the  wife 
of  the  ArcJwn  Basileus. 

88.  As  the  bull  and  the  he-goat,  of  all  the  animals, 
were  especially  sacred  to  Dionysus,  so  in  the  vegetable 
kingdom  were  the  evergreen  ivy  and  the  vine  swelling 
with  juice,  on  account  of  their  luxuriant  growth.    The  vine 
was  especially  appropriate  also  for  the  reason  that  the 
enjoyment  of  wine  drinking  has  the  faculty  of  increasing 
the  sensual  excitement  peculiar  to  this  worship  to  a  point 
of  enthusiasm  that  is  like  madness  (drunkenness).    (Of. 
i  Spirit/  '  spirits  of  wine.')     Such  an  effect,  moreover,  cor- 
responded to  the  nature  of  Dionysus,  who  was  so  gener- 
ally believed  to  be  taken  into  oneself  in  drink  that  his 
relation  to  wine  gradually  drove  into  the  background  all 
other  phases  of  his  character.     As  Lyaeus  ('freer  from 


THE   GREEK  GODS  67 

care ')  he  carries  for  a  symbol  the  vine  branch  or  the 
tliyrsus  (vine-prop?).  In  his  honor  was  celebrated  at 
Athens  the  vintage  festival  of  the  Oschophoria  ('  carrying 
about  of  vines'),  as  well  as  the  Lenaea  (' feast  of  the 
wine  press');  while  011  the  island  of  Naxos,  which 
abounded  in  wines,  and  was  the  center  of  the  worship 
of  Dionysus  among  the  islands  having  an  Ionian  popu- 
lation, the  ditliyrambus  was  probably  first  sung.  This' 
was  originally  a  simple  drinking  song  in  honor  of  the 
god,  which  in  Corinth  became  a  chorus  rendered  by 
singers  in  the  costume  of  Satyrs.  From  this  was  devel- 
oped the  dithyramb  of  Pindar  at  the  festivals  of  Dionysus 
in  Thebes.  In  Athens,  however,  it  became  the  drama,  at 
first  in  the  form  of  ( tragedy '  (rpayw&a  =  '  goat  song ?) 
or  satyr-play.  Here,  at  the  spring  games  of  the  greater 
Dionysia,  the  presentation  of  the  dramas  that  grew  out 
of  the  dithyramb  came  at  length  to  constitute  the  most 
essential  part  of  the  festival. 

89.  When  the  real  significance  of  the  above-mentioned 
sacrifice  of  children  was  no  longer  understood,  the  Orphic 
poets,  i.e.  the  representatives  of  the  religious  poetry 
developed  by  the  worship  of  Dionysus,  about  the  time 
of  Pisistratus,  attempted  to  explain  that  sacrificial  cus- 
tom by  inventing  the  story  that  Dionysus  himself,  when 
a  child,  or  in  animal  form,  had  been  torn  in  pieces  by 
the  Titans,  and  had  therefore  received  the  name  Zagreus. 
There  was,  however,  symbolized  in  that  fable  an  idea 
based  011  an  actual  process  of  nature  ;  for  Dionysus  really 
seemed  to  die  in  the  fall.  As  the  reproductive  power  of 
nature  vanishes  after  the  harvest  time  for  a  season,  so 
its  awakening  in  the  spring,  which  in  Athens  was  cele- 
brated by  the  Anthesteria  ('  flower  festival '),  could  be 


68  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

looked  upon  as  a  resurrection  of  the  fructifying  god, 
and  thus  he  could  easily  be  regarded  as  having  been 
temporarily  dead.  This  was  the  case  particularly  at 
Delphi,  and  probably  also  in  the  ' mysteries'  of  Eleusis. 

90.  When  this   Thracian  '  Zeus-hero '  and  representa- 
tive  of   productive   moisture   was    introduced  into  the 
Grecian  system  of  gods,  he  came  to  be  regarded  as  the 
son   of   Zeus,   the   god   of   thunder   and  rain;  and  his 
mother  Semele  (Earth?)  was  said  to  be  the  daughter  of 
Cadmus   of  Thebes,   because   that  was   the   chief  place 
of  his  worship.     After  her  premature  death,  continued 
the  legend,  Zeus  concealed  the  yet  immature  child  in 
his   own  thigh  till  the  time  for  it  to  be  born.     Then 
Hermes  carried  it  to  the  nymphs  of  Nysa,  or  the  synony- 
mous Hyades  ('  raincloud  goddesses ')  to  be  nursed. 

91.  Certain  other  myths  relate  to  the  opposition  which 
was  raised  to  the  introduction  of  this  foreign  worship. 
Even  in  Thrace,  the  very  home  of  the  god,  barbarian 
opponents  of  his  worship  were  personified  in  Lycurgus, 
who  pursued  him  and  his  nurses  with  a  battle-ax.     In 
the  Minyaii  Orchomenus  he  was  resisted  by  the  soberly 
industrious  daughters  of  Minyas,  similarly  in  Argos  by 
the  daughters  of  Proetus,  and  in  Thebes  by  king  Pen- 
theus  %  but  these  all  perished  when  the  god  sent  upon 
them    the    madness    which    sensual    excitement    finally 
reaches. 

92.  The   legend   of   the   marriage   of    Dionysus   with 
Ariadne,  a  Cretan   goddess  very  much  like  Aphrodite, 
which  was  localized  on  the  island  of  Naxos  (Dia)  near 
Crete,  is   entirely  in  harmony  with  the  nature  of  the 
fructifying  god;    and  the  significance  of  this  wedlock 
is  indicated  by  the  names  of  their  sons,  Oenopion  ('  wine- 


THE  GREEK  GODS  69 

drinker '),  Staphylus  ('  grape-cluster '),  and  Euanthes 
('  the  richly  blooming ').  He  is,  however,  associated 
with  Aphrodite  as  the  father  of  Priapus,  god  of  gardens 
and  flocks,  who  was  worshiped  at  Lampsacus  on  the 
Hellespont  and  was  essentially  like  his  father. 

93.  The   oldest   symbol  of   the  worship  of   Dionysus 
is  a  consecrated  post  or  pillar  (the  idea  of  which  prob- 
ably arose  from  a  sacred  tree)  ;  and  from  this,  by  the 
addition   of    a   mask   and  clothing,   the   oldest   regular 
images   naturally  developed.      The  type  of  the  god  in 
which  he  is  bearded  and  fully  clothed  was  the  prevalent 
one  till  sometime  during  the  fourth  century  B.C.  ;  later 
he  appeared  as  a  child  on  the  arm  of  Hermes  or  of  a 
bearded  Satyr.     After  Praxiteles  represented  him  as  a 
youth  nearly  nude,  clothed  only  with  a  skin  of  a  fawn, 
the   nude   and  youthful   form   came  to   be   universally 
accepted. 

94.  Among  the  goddesses  of  the  receptive  fruitfulness 
of  the  earth,  a  prominent  place  was  occupied  by  Demeter 
(cf.  fj<r)Tr]p,  Lat.  Ceres),  the  protectress  of  grain,  which  is 
the  chief  means  of  subsistence.     Her  parents  were  sup- 
posed to  be  Cronus,  the  sun  god,  who  ripens  the  produce 
of  the  fields,  and  Ehea,  whose  nature  is  closely  related 
to  her  own.     Her  epithets,  Chloe  ('  green-yellow '),  Kar- 
pophoros,    Slto,    and    lulo    ('  dispenser   of    fruit,    grain, 
sheaves'),  signify  that  she  is  the  protectress  of  the  ger- 
minating seed;  and  this  idea  is  confirmed  by  the  fact 
that  the  first  fruits  of  the  harvest  were  offered  to  her. 

95.  Her  principal  residence  was  in  Eleusis  near  Athens, 
where,  with  Core   ('  girl '),  her  daughter   by   Zeus,   and 
with  the  youthful  lacchus,  i.e.  Dionysus-Bacchus-Sabazius 
(whose  worship  was  probably  introduced  into  this  cult 


70  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

originally  at  Athens),  she  was  worshiped  in  public  and 
in  secret  ceremonies  ('Mysteries  7).  Dionysus  was  here 
considered  sometimes  the  son  of  Demeter,  and  again 
of  Core  and  the  Zeus  of  the  lower  world,  i.e.  Hades. 
The  two  goddesses  were  together  termed  '  honorable/ 
or  '  mistresses.'  In  the  month  Boedromion  (September- 
October)  of  each  year  the  people  of  Athens  marched 
along  the  sacred  road  to  Eleusis  in  a  festal  procession, 
in  which  sheaves  of  grain  were  carried  in  token  of 
thanks  that  the  promise  of  the  harvest  was  fulfilled. 
Here,  in  the  darkness  of  the  night,  a  torchlight  pro- 
cession took  place,  which  probably  stood  originally  for 
the  renewal  of  the  light  in  spring,  but  was  at  a  later 
period  explained  by  the  idea  that  Demeter  had  searched 
for  her  stolen  daughter  by  torchlight.  The  sacred  sym- 
bols of  the  goddess  were  exhibited  to  the  initiated 
(Mystae) ;  and  to  remind  them  of  the  beneficence 
shown  by  her  toward  men  in  distributing  grain,  there 
was  offered  them  after  long  fasting  a  drink,  or  pap, 
of  water  and  meal  seasoned  with  pennyroyal,  the  form 
in  which,  at  least  in  the  earliest  times,  the  gifts  of 
Demeter  had  been  enjoyed.  (Cf.  the  puls  of  the 
Romans.)  Finally  water  was  poured  out  (as  a  charm 
for  rain),  while,  with  eyes  looking  toward  the  heavens, 
they  cried,  vt  ('rain!');  and,  looking  toward  the  ground, 
Kvt  ('  conceive  ! '). 

As  a  preliminary  to  these  greater  Mysteries,  the  lesser 
Mysteries  were  celebrated  in  Athens  itself  in  the  flower- 
ing month  Anthesterion  (February-March),  an  occasion 
on  which  those  that  were  to  be  received  as  members  of 
the  religious  community  in  the  fall  had  a  provisional 
initiation. 


THE  GREEK  GODS  71 

96.  In  Homer,  too,  Demeter, '  of  the  beautiful  ringlets/ 
who  is  the  wife  of  Zeus,  and  is  worshiped  in  the  Thes- 
salian  Pyrasus  ('land  of  wheat '),  is  only  the  goddess  of 
the  cultivation  of  grain,  so  that  she  seems  to  dwell  not 
on  Olympus,  but  in  the  grainfield  itself.      The  sacred 
hymn  containing  her  legendary  history,  a  hymn  com- 
posed in  Attica  before  the  time  of  Solon,  represents  her 
in  the   same  way :  — '  Core,  her   daughter   by  Zeus,   is 
gathering  flowers  together  with  the  Oceaninae,  i.e.  the 
daughters  of  Oceanus,  in  a  meadow  situated,  according 
to  the  later  version,  near  Enna  in  Sicily.     When,  among 
other   flowers,  she  plucks  the  flower  of  death,  the  nar- 
cissus,   suddenly   the    ground    opens    (c/.    the    German 
SMusselblume,  Himmelsschliissel),  and  Hades,  the   lord 
of  the  world  below,  rises  up  out  of  it,  and  carries  her 
away  from  the  circle  of  her  playmates.     Without  tasting 
food,  her   mother,  torches  in  hand,  searches  for  her  for 
nine  days,  until  from  Hecate  or  Helios  she  learns  who 
has  kidnaped  the  girl.     When  Zeus  denies  her  request 
for  the  restoration  of  her  child,  Demeter  hides  herself 
in  Eleusis,  and  in  anger  prevents  the  growth  of  all  grain. 
Not  until  Zeus,  in  consequence  of  this  action  on  her  part, 
has  at  length  decided  that  Core  shall  remain  but  a  third 
part  of  each  year  in  the  lower  world  does  the  goddess  re- 
turn to  Olympus  and  again  give  fruitf ulness  to  the  grain. 
The  refusal  of  a  complete  restoration  is  confirmed  by  the 
fact  that  Core  has  taken  from  her  husband,  and  eaten, 
the  seed  of  a  pomegranate  (a  symbol  of  fructification)/ 

97.  This  legend  plainly  typifies  the  development  of 
the  seed  itself,  for  in  the  earliest  times  in  Greece,  accord- 
ing to  Hesiod,  grain  was  mostly  sown  in  the  spring,  so 
that  it  was  in  the  ground  four  months,  from  about  the 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

beginning  of  March  to  the  beginning  of  July,  and  here  it 
was  fructified;  but  with  the  harvest  it  was  separated 
from  the  ground  eight  months.  Moreover,  among  all 
the  Indo-European  races  there  is  found  an  intimate  con- 
nection between  the  concepts  <  child '  and  '  grain/  be- 
tween human  fructification  and  the  fruitfulness  of  the 
grainfield;  hence  the  effort  was  made  to  express  the 
latter  idea  by  symbolic  actions,  and  by  forms  of  speech 
properly  referring  to  the  former,  which  were  apparently 
indecent.  Thus,  according  to  the  Cretan  myth,  lasion 
begets  from  Demeter,  on  a  thrice-plowed  cornfield, 
Plutus,  i.e.  abundance  of  fruit,  wealth.  It  is,  however,  a 
charming  legend  in  which  Demophoon,  the  little,  sickly 
son  of  Celeus,  king  of  Eleusis,  under  the  nourishment  of 
the  goddess,  flourishes  like  the  germinating  seed.  Very 
closely  related  to  him  stands  another  of  her  Eleusinian 
proteges,  the  hero  Triptolemus  ('the  one  plowing  thrice7), 
who  was  worshiped  as  the  first  propagator  of  agriculture 
and  the  founder  of  the  Eleusinian  cult.  Demeter  sends 
him  abroad,  furnished  with  seed  corn  and  agricultural 
implements,  on  her  own  chariot  drawn  by  serpents,  to 
teach  men  agriculture  and  the  milder  civilization  and 
political  order  following  in  the  wake  of  agriculture. 
Therefore  Demeter  herself  was  revered  as  Tliesmophoros 
('  law-giver '),  particularly  at  the  festival  of  the  Thes- 
mophoria  celebrated  in  the  month  of  seedtime. 

98.  In  Arcadia  Demeter  was  associated  with  Poseidon 
Hippios  or  Pkytalmias,  and  her  daughter  was  there  called 
Despoina  ('  mistress ').  The  latter,  as  wife  of  Hades, 
became  also  Persephone  ('the  ravaging  destroyer'),  i.e. 
the  dread  goddess  of  death  and  the  mistress  of  the  lower 
world,  while,  in  harmony  with  her  mythical  character, 


THE  GREEK  GODS  78 

she  seems  to  have  been  worshiped  in  the  Mysteries  as 
a  consoling  example  of  one  who  experienced  a  resurrec- 
tion and  a  happy  after-life  in  the  lower  world. 

In  the  older  art  no  fixed  form  was  developed  for  Deme- 
ter  except  that  she  was  always  represented  as  motherly 
and  fully  clothed.  As  distinguishing  attributes  she  car- 
ries ears  of  corn  and  the  poppy,  a  scepter  or  a  torch. 
Her  daughter  is  distinguished  from  her  only  by  her 
youthful,  maidenly  figure ;  and  the  two  are  often  seen 
side  by  side,  sitting  or  standing. 

99.  The  nourishing  earth  in  its  totality  is  represented 
by  Gaea  or  Ge  (Lat.  Tellus  or  Terra  Mater).  She  is  the 
broad-breasted,  great  mother  of  all,  who  produces  men, 
animals,  and  plants,  and  hence  was  worshiped  in  Athens 
as  Kurotroplios  (' nurse  of  children').  But  because  she 
also  receives  back  into  her  bosom  all  that  die  she  is  like- 
wise goddess  of  death.  She  knows  the  secrets  of  the 
realm  of  death,  which  lies  in  the  earth,  and  so  she  was 
consulted  as  an  oracular  goddess,  especially  at  chasms  in 
the  ground,  which  seemed  to  lead  down  to  that  realm, 
particularly  at  Aegae  in  Achaia.  The  real  belief  prob- 
ably was  that  she  sent  up  the  dead  themselves  to  be 
consulted.  As  Kurotroplios  she  is  represented  sitting  and 
holding  children  and  fruits  in  her  lap ;  at  her  feet  cattle 
and  sheep  are  feeding.  Far  more  frequently,  however, 
she  is  represented  as  a  gigantic  woman,  with  only  the 
upper  part  of  her  body  in  view,  rising  up  out  of  the 
ground ;  more  rarely,  with  only  the  head  appearing.  In 
the  latter  form  she  .is  usually  handing  over  her  son  Erich- 
thonius  to  Athena  to  be  brought  up.  In  later  times  she 
is  reclining  on  the  ground,  holding  a  cornucopia;  and 
this  conception  is  the  one  followed  in  the  personifica- 


74  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

tions  of  various  countries,  islands,  and  cities,  the  last 
of  which  are  frequently  more  definitely  denoted  by  a 
mural  crown. 

Satyri :  Ovid,  Fast.  iii.  737  sq.,  Ars  Amat.  iii.  157 ;  Vergil, 
Eel.  v.  73 ;  Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  vi.  18. 

Pan :  Homer,  Hymn  xix. ;  Ovid,  Met.  i.  699  sq. ;  Hyginus,  Fab. 
cxcvi.;  Milton,  Par.  L.  iv.  266:  — 

While  universal  Pan 

Knit  with  the  Graces  and  the  Hours  in  dance 
Led  on  th'  eternal  Spring. 

Pope,  Summer  50 :  — 

Rough  Satyrs  dance  and  Pan  applauds  the  song. 
Keats,  Endymion  i.  78  :  — 

Where  fed  the  herds  of  Pan. 
Wordsworth,  Sonnet  v.  :  — 

Great  Pan  himself  low  whispering  through  the  reeds. 
Dionysus  (Bacchus,  lacchus,  Lyaeus) :  Ovid,  Ars  Amat.  i.  232 :  — 

Purpureus  Bacchi  cornua  pressit  Amor ; 
Met.  iii.  317,  iv.  2  sq. ;  Vergil,  Aen.  i.  734:  — 

Laetitiae  Bacchus  dator. 
Hyginus,  Fab.  clxxix.;  Shak.,  Antony  and  Cleopatra  ii.  7,  121:- 

Come,  thou  monarch  of  the  vine, 

Plumpy  Bacchus  with  pink  eyne ! 

In  thy  fats  our  cares  be  drown'd, 

With  thy  grapes  our  hairs  be  crown'd! 

Semele :  Homer,  II.  xiv.  323 ;  Ovid,  Met.  iii.  260  sq.,  Fast.  vi. 
485  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  clxxix. 

Hyades :  Ovid,  Fast.  iv.  678,  v.  164 ;  Vergil,  Aen.  i.  744 ;  Hy- 
ginus, Fab.  cxcii. 

Pentheus :  Ovid,  Met.  iii.  513  sq. ;  Vergil,  Aen.  iv.  469 ;  Hy- 
ginus, Fab.  clxxxiv. 

Ariadne :  Catullus,  Ixiv.  251  sq. ;  Ovid,  Fast.  iii.  473 ;  Hyginus, 
Fab.  xlii.,  xliii.;  Keats,  Endymion  ii.  442:  — 

Never,  I  aver, 
Since  Ariadne  was  a  vintager. 

Shak.,  Midsummer  Night's  Dream  ii.  1,  80. 


THE  GREEK  GODS  75 

Priapus:  Ovid,  Fast.  i.  415  sq. ;  Vergil,  Eel.  vii.  33;  Shak., 
Pericles  iv.  6,  3. 

Demeter  (Ceres)  :    Homer,  Od.  v.  125 ;   Ovid,  Amor.  iii.  10, 

Prima  Ceres  docuit  turgescere  semen  in  agris ; 

Fast.  iv.  393  sg.,  Met.  x.  431 ;  Vergil,  Geor.  i.  7,  96 ;  Pope,  Wind- 
sor Forest  39 :  — 

Here  Ceres'  gifts  in  waving  prospect  stand. 

Shak.,  The  Tempest  iv.  1,  60. 

Narcissus :  Ovid,  Met.  iii.  346  sq.  ;  Shak.,  Rape  of  Lucrece  38. 

Plutus  :  Shak.,  All's  Well  That  Ends  Well  v.  3,  101. 

Triptolemus  :  Hyginus,  Fab.  cxlvii. 

Persephone  (Proserpina):  Homer,  Hymn  to  Ceres;  Ovid, 
Met.  v.  385  sq.,  Fast.  iv.  485;  Vergil,  Geor.  iv.  487;  Hyginus, 
Fab.  cxlvi. ;  Keats,  Lamia  i.  63  :  — 

As  Proserpine  still  weeps  for  her  Sicilian  air. 
Milton,  Par.  L.  iv.  269 :  — 

.Where  Proserpin  gathering  flow'rs 
Herself  a  fairer  flower  by  gloomy  Dis 
Was  gather'd,  which  cost  Ceres  all  that  pain 
To  seek  her  through  the  world. 

Shak.,  Troilus  and  Cressida  ii.  1,  37  ;  Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  i,  37  :  — 
Blacke  Plutoes  griesly  dame ; 

iv.  11 :  — 

Queen  of  Hell. 


III.    DIVINITIES   OF  THE  LOWER  WORLD 
1.   DIVINITIES  OF  DEATH 

100.  As  the  divinities  of  the  upper  world  were  pat- 
terned entirely  after  living  human  beings,  so  the  god  to 
whom  in  the  time  of  Homer  was  attributed  a  power  (cor- 
responding to  that  of  Zeus)  over  the  lower  world  and 
its  inhabitants  was  formed  in  harmony  with  those  ideas 
about  the  dead  which  have  been  explained  above.  (See 


76  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

§  2  sg.)  Like  his  subjects,  he  is  invisible,  and  hence  is 
called  Ai'doneus,  Aides,  or  Hades,  '  the  invisible/  or  '  the 
one  rendering  invisible'  (d  privative  +  tS-etv).  This  pecul- 
iarity is  ascribed  to  the  power  of  a  helmet  which  he  is 
accustomed  to  wear.  A  similar  helmet  is  used  by  Sieg- 
fried in  the  Niebelungenlied. 

The  all-powerful  ruler  of  the  lower  world  was  con- 
sidered the  brother  of  Zeus  and  Poseidon ;  indeed, 
he  was  himself  called  the  subterranean  (Chtlionios) 
Zeus,  and  like  him  is  represented  enthroned,  with  a 
scepter. 

101.  His  wife  is  Persephoneia  or  Persephone,  and  like 
her,  Hades  is  both  ruler  of  the  depths  of  the  earth  and 
protector  of  the  grain  as  long  as  it  rests  in  the  bosom  of 
the  earth.  Eegarded  in  this  aspect  he  carried  the  horn  of 
plenty  as  a  symbol,  and  was  much  worshiped  under  the 
names  Pluto  ('  giver  of  riches/  Lat.  Dls  Pate?*),  Clyme- 
nus  ('the  illustrious7),  and  Eabuleus  ('the  benevolent7); 
while  as  the  death  god  proper,  Hades,  he  enjoyed  worship 
especially  at  Pylus  ('gate'  of  the  lower  world)  in  Elis. 
When  praying  to  him  it  was  customary  to  strike  on  the 
ground  with  the  hands,  that  the  god  might  hear;  and 
black  sacrificial  animals  were  offered  to  him,  as  to  the 
dead  themselves.  The  dark-hued  cypress,  which  was 
planted  on  graves  and  otherwise  much  employed  in  the 
worship  of  the  dead,  and  the  quickly  withering  narcissus 
were  sacred  to  him.  The  Erinyes,  Thanatos,  and  Hypnos, 
god  of  sleep,  who  is  formed  like  Thanatos,  dwell  in  his 
realm.  (Concerning  his  wound  at  the  hand  of  Hercules 
see  §  143.) 

Hades  (Pluto):  Homer,  II.  passim;  Vergil,  Geor.  iv.  467,  et 
passim  ;  Horace,  Od.  ii.  14,  7  ;  Milton,  II  Penseroso  107  :  — 


THE  GREEK  GODS  77 

Drew  iron  tears  down  Plato's  cheek, 
And  made  Hell  grant  what  love  did  seek. 

Pope,  Song  by  a  Person  of  Quality  v. :  — 

Gloomy  Pluto,  King  of  terrors, 

Arm'd  in  adamantine  chains. 

Shak.,  King  Henry  IV.  pt.  ii.  ii.  4,  169;   Chaucer,  Knight's  Tale 
1224,  et passim;  Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  iv.  11. 

Hypnos :    Daniel,   Delia,    Sonnet   Ii. ;    Tennyson,   In   Memo- 
riam  Ixvii. 

2.    DIVINITIES  OF  SICKNESS  AND  HEALING 

102.  Since  the  death  divinities  possess  power  over  life 
and   death,  when   propitiated  they  may  become  health 
divinities,  who  ward  off  sickness  and  death.     To  those 
who  seek  help  and  healing  they  make  known  their  will 
and  counsel  mostly  by  oracular  dreams,  just  as  the  dead 
themselves  are  wont  to  appear  to  their  friends  in  dreams. 
So  Aesculapius  (Grk.  Asklepios)^  the  most  important  of 
them,  was  an   oracular  god,  closely  related   to   Hades, 
probably  at  first  indigenous  to  the  vicinity  of  the  Thessa- 
lian  town  Tricca  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Pindus.     He  was 
believed  to  dwell  in  the  depths  of  the  earth,  and  there- 
fore, like  the  dead,  was  represented  in  the  form  of  a 
serpent.     His  priests,  however,  the  family  of  the  Ascle- 
piadae,  practiced  the  actual  art  of  healing  as  an  occult 
science,  so   that  the   remedies   which   were   apparently 
prescribed  by  the   god   had  the   desired   effect.     They 
transplanted  into   Boeotia  the  worship   of   Aesculapius 
as  the  god  of  healing,  where  it  was  combined  with  the 
similar  worship  of  Trophonius  at  Lebadia.     Afterwards 
they  carried  it  also  into  Phocis  and  Epidaurus  in  Argolis. 
From  there  it  reached  Rome  in  the  year  291  B.C. 

103.  In  Homer,  on  the  other  hand,  Aesculapius  has 
already  reached  the  lower  level  of  a  mere  me'dical  hero ; 


78  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

he  is  the  son  of  Apollo,  the  god  of  healing,  but  is  in- 
structed in  the  healing  art  by  the  wise  Centaur,  Chiron. 
Since  by  his  art  he  even  calls  back  the  dead  to  life,  the 
god  of  the  lower  world  complains  of  him  to  Zeus,  and 
the  latter  thereupon  slays  him  with  a  stroke  of  lightning. 
His  children  are  the  physicians  Machaon  and  Podalirius, 
and  the  personifications  of  health  and  healing,  Hygea 
(' health'),  laso  (' healing'),  Panacea  ('cure-all/  ' remedy 
for  everything'),  and  Aegle  ('the  shining  one/  'the  won- 
derful ').  Aesculapius  is  usually  represented  as  a  kindly, 
wise-looking  man,  standing,  and  with  all  the  upper  part 
of  his  body  bare,  except  the  left  arm  and  shoulder.  He 
carries  as  a  symbol  a  large  staff,  entwined  with  a  ser- 
pent, and  often  wears  a  headband. 

Aesculapius:  Homer,  II.  iv.  194;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xlix. ;  Shak., 
Pericles  iii.  2,  111  :  —  , 

And  Aesculapius  guide  us ! 
Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  v.  41. 

Machaon :  Homer,  II.  ii.  732  ;  Ovid,  Ex  Pont.  i.  3,  5. 
Aegle :  Vergil,  Eel.  vi.  21 :  — 

Aegle,  Naiadum  pulcherrima. 
Shak.,  Midsummer  Night's  Dream  ii.  1,  79. 


IV.    PERSONIFICATIONS 

104.  As  men's  conception  of  the  gods  gradually  becomes 
spiritualized,  such  forces  as  are  not  directly  perceptible 
through  the  senses,  but  are  rather  of  a  purely  spiritual 
nature,  whose  effect  is  manifest  as  well  in  private  as  in 
public  life,  are  attributed  to  the  activity  of  independent 
divinities.  Thus  that  which  we  "know  as  a  mere  abstract 
idea  acquires  a  personal  form.  So  are  developed  (1)  the 
friendly  divinities  of  love,  social  intercourse,  order,  and 


THE  GREEK  GODS  79 

justice;  (2)  the  hostile  divinities  of  war  and  strife ;  (3)  the 
divinities  of  fate,  who  determine  all  that  happens  to  man. 
Closely  related  to  the  genuine  personifications  of  these 
spiritual  forces  are  those  attributes  of  older  divinities  of 
nature  which  have  been  developed  into  independent  fig- 
ures (e.g.  Athena-Kike).  And  in  the  case  of  some  of  these 
very  divinities  of  nature  (e.g.  Aphrodite  and  Ares),  even  in 
foreign  lands  before  their  reception  into  the  circle  of  the 
Greek  gods,  purely  spiritual  functions  came  so  prominently 
into  the  foreground  as  almost  entirely  to  supplant  their 
older  signification  in  the  natural  world.  It  was  not  until 
a  comparatively  late  period  that  a  similar  result  followed 
with  such  indigenous  divinities  as  the  Charites  and  Horae. 

1.   THE  DIVINITIES  OF  LOVE,  SOCIAL  INTERCOURSE, 
ORDER,  AND  JUSTICE 

105.  In  Greece  Aphrodite  (Lat.  Venus)  was  preemi- 
nently the  goddess  of  love  and  of  the  beauty  that  inspires 
love.  When  in  Homer  she  is  derided  by  her  sister  Athena 
on  account  of  her  unwarlike  nature,  Zeus  himself,  smiling 
gently,  comes  to  her  defense  with  the  explanation,  — 

Not  upon  thee  were  bestowed,  dear  daughter,  the  deeds  of  war ; 
Order  thou  rather,  as  ever,  the  delightful  affairs  of  marriage. 

So  Eros,  love's  longing  personified,  is  regarded  as  her 
constant  companion,  and  according  to  the  later  idea,  as 
her  son.  In  their  train  are  found  Peitho  (( persuasion 7) 
and  the  Charites,  to  whom  Aphrodite  is  otherwise  closely 
related ;  for  in  the  Iliad  Charis  is  the  wife  of  Hephaestus, 
while  according  to  the  Odyssey  Aphrodite  herself  occupies 
this  position.  Her  parents  were  Zeus  and  Dione ;  while 
Hebe,  the  representative  of  the  bloom  of  youth,  was  the 


80  GREEK   AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

daughter  of  Zeus  and  Hera.  In  Thebes  Aphrodite  was 
considered  the  wife  of  Ares,  god  of  war  and  death,  with 
whom  she  is  associated  in  Homer.  Their  children  were 
Harmonia  ('  harmony ')  —  who  resembles  Aphrodite  her- 
self when  the  latter  is  called  Pandemos  ('  common  to  all/ 
and  therefore  '  unifying 7)  —  and  the  companions  of  the 
war  god,  Deimos  ('  terror ')  and  Phobos  (<  fright '). 

106.  These  rather  vague  relations  and  the  fact  that  Aph- 
rodite appears  to  take  the  place  of  other  goddesses  (see 
also  §  117)  indicate  that  she  is  not  indigenous  to  Greece. 
As  she  is   in   Homer   frequently   called  'the  Cyprian7 
(Kypris),  and  as  the  cities  where  her  worship  appears  to 
have  been  first  carried  on,  Paphos,  Amanthus,  and  Idalium, 
were  situated  in  Cyprus,  probably  her  original  home  was 
on  this  island.     From  here  her  worship  could  afterwards 
easily  have  reached  Cythera  and  Sparta,  Corinth,  Elis, 
and  Athens,  and,  in  the  other  direction,  Mount  Eryx  in 
Sicily.     Even  in  Cyprus,  however,  she  was  probably  only 
a  local  form  of  the  Assyrio-Phoenician  goddess  of  fruit- 
fulness,  Istar  or  Astarte  (Ashtoreth  =  Aphrodet  ?).    Their 
identity  appears  especially  in  their  relation  to  the  Se- 
mitic representative  of  the  vegetation  of  the  springtime, 
Adonis  ('lord'),  who  was  worshiped  principally  in  the 
Syrian  town  Byblus  and  in  Cyprus.    Fancy  pictured  him 
as  a  handsome  youth,  beloved  of  Aphrodite,  wounded  in 
the  chase  in  midsummer  by  a  wild  boar  (the  sun).     He 
dies  immediately,  and  is  then  compelled  to  pass  the  time 
till  spring  in  the  lower   world   with   Persephone,   who 
is  his  Greek  counterpart. 

107.  To  Cyprus  belonged  originally  also  the  myth  of 
the  double-sexed  Aphroditos  or  Hermaphrodltus,  a  rep- 
resentative of  the   abundant   productiveness   of   nature, 


THE   GREEK   GODS  81 

closely  akin  to  Aphrodite.  The  latter  of  his  names  was 
probably  given  him  only  because  representations  of  him 
were  usually  in  the  form  of  Hermae.  Through  a  mistaken 
explanation  of  this  name,  he  was  afterwards  supposed  to 
be  a  son  of  Hermes  and  Aphrodite  (cf,  Priapus).  The 
legend  of  Aphrodite's  union  with  Anchises,  king  of  Dar- 
danus  in  Troas,  whom  she  approached  on  Mount  Ida  and 
to  whom  she  afterwards  bore  Aeneas,  is  likewise  of  ori- 
ental origin.  Possibly  Anchises  and  the  son  of  Priam, 
the  handsome  Paris,  who  awards  her  the  prize  for  beauty, 
may  be  as  nearly  identical  as  are  Aphrodite  and  the  beau- 
tiful Helen,  whom  she  gives  Paris  as  a  reward  for  his 
decision. 

108.  Even  the  customary  appellation  of  the  goddess  in 
worship,   Urania  ('the  heavenly'),  seems  to  have  been 
borrowed  from  Astarte.    For  the  idea  that  Aphrodite  was 
a  daughter  of  Uranus  was  evidently  first  invented  in 
explanation  of  that  appellation,  and  was  based  upon  a 
false  explanation  of  her  epithet  'foam-born.'     Similarly, 
her  relation  to  the  sea  cannot  be  explained  from  her  sig- 
nificance  in   Greece,  nor   can   her   worship   as  Euploia 
('bestower  of  a  prosperous  voyage'),  Pontia  ('sea  god- 
dess '),  and  the  like,  in  which  capacity  the  dolphin  and 
the  swan  are  her  symbolic  attributes. 

109.  In   earlier   times   Aphrodite,  like   all   the   other 
goddesses,  was  represented  clothed  ;  but  after  the  fourth 
century  B.C.  she  appears  also  half-nude,  or  entirely  so, 
since  she  was  conceived  of  as  bathing,  or  as  Anadyomene 
('emerging  from  the  sea').     The  most  beautiful  example 
of  a  semi-nude  Aphrodite  is  the  famous  Aphrodite  of 
Melos.     Praxiteles  represented  her  as  entirely  undressed 
in  the  statue  made  for  her   sanctuary  in  Cnidus.     As 


82  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

symbols  of  fruitfulness  the  dove,  ram,  or  he-goat  are  her 
special  attributes. 

110.  Eros,  on  the  other  hand,  was  the  masculine  repre- 
sentative of  love.     He  was  worshiped  as  a  real  god  from 
ancient  times,  probably  even  by  the  prehellenic  popula- 
tion of  Thespiae  in  Boeotia,  Parion  on  the  Hellespont, 
and  Leuctra  in  Laconia.     At  Thespiae  he  was  worshiped 
under  the  very  ancient  symbol  of  a  rough  stone ;  but  he 
was  there  considered  the  son  of  Hermes,  the  dispenser  of 
fruitfulness,  and  of  the  Artemis  of  the  lower  world  (a 
goddess  of  earth's  fruitfulness,  much  like  Derneter  and 
Persephone).     In  the  Homeric  poems,  however,  he  does 
not  yet  'appear  as  a  divinity ;    and  Hesiod,  though  cer- 
tainly acquainted  with  his  actual  worship,  regards  him 
only  as  a  world-engendering  primitive  force. 

111.  Himeros  (Lat.  Cupido),  the  longing  of  impetuous 
love,  and  Pothos,  love's  ardent  desire,  were  after  a  while 
distinguished  from  Eros ;  but  they  were  not  recognized  as 
actual  divinities.     Thus  there  was  gradually  developed 
a  plurality  of  Erotes  not  easily  distinguished  from  each 
other.     After  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.  Eros 
was  represented  in  art  as  a  winged  boy  or  a  youth  of  ten- 
der years,  with  a  flower  and  a  lyre,  a  fillet  (taenid)  and  a 
garland  in  his  hands,  often  in  company  with  Aphrodite, 
who  now  was  regarded  as  his  mother.     After  the  fourth 
century  B.C.  he  received  as  attributes  a  bow  and  arrow, 
and  also  a  torch ;  for  love's  smart  which  he  inflicted  was 
regarded  as  a  wound.      Still  later,  through  a  misunder- 
standing, the  torch  was  supposed  to  symbolize  the  light 
of  life,  and  Eros,  like  Aphrodite,  was  associated  also  with 
death  and  the  lower  world.    The  torch  in  his  hand  was  re- 
versed or  extinguished,  and  sometimes  he  was  represented 


THE  GREEK  GODS  83 

as  fatigued  and  just  sinking  down  to  sleep ;  thus  lie  became 
practically  identical  with  Thanatos,  the  god  of  death. 

Finally,  the  Platonic  conception,  that  love  both  blesses 
and  curses  and  torments  the  human  soul,  was  expressed  by 
representing  Eros  as  now  flatteringly  embracing,  and  again 
cruelly  torturing  Psyche  ('  soul '),  who  was  pictured  as  a 
butterfly  (§  4),  or  as  a  maiden  with  a  butterfly's  wings. 

112.  The  Charites   (Lat.   Gratiae,  Eng.  'Graces'),  the 
goddesses  of  charming  grace,  were  adored  in  the  Boeotian 
city,    Orchomenus,   under   the    symbol   of    three   rough 
stones,  a  symbol  which,  like  the  stone  of  Eros  in  Thes- 
piae,  may  have  had  its  origin  in  the  times  preceding  the 
dominion  of  the  Minyae.      In   other  localities,  even   in 
very  ancient  times,  they  were  represented  as  three  maid- 
ens, clothed  in  long  robes,  standing  in  single  file,  with 
instruments  of  music,  or  with  flowers,  fruits,  and  fillets, 
in  their  hands.     In  this  type  they  cannot  be  distinguished 
from  Muses  or  Nymphs.     In  Athens,  after  the  fifth  cen- 
tury B.C.,  they  were  usually  united  in  a  group,  clasping  each 
other's  hands ;  but  not  until  the  third  century  were  they 
represented  as  entirely  nude  and  embracing  each  other. 

113.  In  the  Iliad  the  individual  divinity  Charis  is  the 
wife  of  Hephaestus ;   but  Homer  is  acquainted  with  a 
whole  family  of  Charites.     Usually  Zeus  was  considered 
their  father,  and.  Eurynome   ('  the  wide-ruling  one '),  a 
daughter  of  Oceanus,  as  their  mother.     Their  names  are 
usually  Euphrosyne  (' cheerfulness '),  Thalia  ('bloom  of 
life,'  'festal  banquet'),  and  Aglai'a  ('brightness').     By 
these  names  they  are  shown  to  have  been  goddesses  of 
cheerful   sociability,  though   they  may   have   originally 
embodied   particularly   the   glad   charm   of   spring,  and 
may  have  been  closely  related  to  the  Horae. 


84         GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

114.  The   predilection   of  the   Graces   for  the   round 
dance  and  its  accompanying  music  was  shared  by  the 
Musae  ('the   searchers/   or  ( inventors/  Eng.  ' Muses'). 
They   were    the    daughters    of    Zeus   and    Mnemosyne 
(' memory7),  and  were  worshiped  (especially  on  Olym- 
pus in  the  district  of  Pieria,  and  on  Helicon  in  Boeotia) 
at  sacred  springs,  such  as  Aganippe  and  Hippocrene  on 
Helicon,  and  Castalia  on  Parnassus,  in  cdnnection  with 
the    worship   of   Dionysus   and   Apollo   and  the   singer 
Orpheus,   the   representative   of   the   Dionysiac   poetry. 
In  the  Iliad  and  the  older  parts  of  the  Odyssey  their 
number  is  not  yet  fixed ;  but  in  a  more  recent  part  of 
the  latter  poem,  and  in  Hesiod,  they  are,  as  is  usual  in 
literature,  nine  in  number.      It  was  not,  however,  until 
later  times  that  their  individual  functions  were  more  spe- 
cifically determined  as  follows :  Calliope  ('  the  beautiful- 
voiced'),  as   the   muse  of  heroic  (epic)  poetry,  carries 
writing  tablets  and  a  style ;    Clio  ('  she  that  praises ') 
represents   history  and  has   a  written   scroll;    Euterpe 
('  the   charmer'),  lyric   poetry,  a   double   flute;    Thalia 
('joy  of  life'),  comedy,  a  comic  mask;  Melpomene  ('the 
singer '),  tragedy,  a  tragic  mask,  and  sometimes  a  sword ; 
Terpsichore   ('joyful   in   the   dance'),  dancing,  a   lyre ; 
Urania  ('  the  heavenly '),  astronomy,  a  celestial  globe ; 
Erato   ('  the   beloved '),  love   songs,  a   cithara ;    finally, 
Polymnia  or  Polyhymnia  ('rich  in  hymns')  attends  to 
the  songs  of  divine  worship,  and  therefore  appears  veiled 
and  with  garments  drawn  closely  about  her. 

115.  The  Horae,  as  their  name   implies,  were  repre- 
sentatives of  the  seasons ;  and  as  in  earlier  times  only 
three  seasons  were  distinguished,  there  were  three  cor- 
responding Horae,  represented  as  maidens  in  the  bloom 


THE   GREEK  GODS  85 

of  youth.  In  Attica  they  were  named  Thallo  (( the 
blooming  one '),  Carpo  ('  the  fruit-bringer '),  and,  per- 
haps, Auxo  ('the  increase!1 ').  In  Homer  they  open  and 
shut  the  gates  of  heaven,  i.e.  they  gather  and  disperse 
the  clouds.  Afterwards,  also,  they  were  considered  the 
dispensers  of  rain  and  dew.  In  art  the  regularity  of 
the  recurrence  of  the  seasons  was  expressed  by  repre- 
senting the  Horae  as  engaged  in  the  dance.  This,  too, 
made  them  appear  as  protectresses  of  order ;  and  so  they 
were  named  also  Eunomia  ('good  order'),  Dike  (< jus- 
tice7), and  Irene  (' peace').  Irene  was  extensively  wor- 
shiped in  Athens  as  an  individual  divinity ;  rising 
above  the  market  place  stood  a  bronze  statue  of  her, 
made  by  Cephisodotus.  She  was  represented  holding  on 
her  arm  the  child  Plutus  ('  riches '),  since  riches  increase 
in  time  of  peace.  There  is  a  marble  copy  of  this  work  in 
Munich.  The  mother  of  these  Horae  was  Themis  ('  law '), 
who  often  bore  the  epithet  Soteira  ('savior').  She  had 
sanctuaries  at  Athens,  Delphi,  Thebes,  Olympia,  and  Troe- 
zen.  She  was  represented  as  an  austere,  grave-looking 
woman,  holding  the  cornucopia  of  blessing,  and  a  balance 
as  a  symbol  of  justice,  which  weighs  with  exactness. 

Aphrodite  (Venus)  :  Homer,  II.  iii.,  et  passim;  Ovid,  Met.  iv. 
171  sq.,  Amor.  i.  8,  42  ;  Vergil,  Aen.  i.  passim  ;  Horace,  Od.  i.  4,  5  ; 
Hyginus,  Fab.  cxcvii. ;  Cowper,  Translation  from  Milton  i. :  — 

Venus,  preferring  Paphian  scenes  no  more. 

Shak.,  The  Tempest  iv.  1,  93,  Midsummer  Night's  Dream  i.  1,  171, 
iii.  2,  61,  Rape  of  Lucrece  9,  Passionate  Pilgrim  passim;  Chaucer, 
Knight's  Tale  244. 

Adonis  :  Ovid,  Met.  x.  532 :  — 

Caelo  praefertur  Adonis. 
Vergil,  Eel.  x.  18  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  ccxlviii. ;  Pope,  Summer  61 :  — 

In  woods  bright  Venus  with  Adonis  stray'd ; 


86  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Pope,  Song  by  a  Person  of  Quality  iii.  :  — 

Thus  the  Cyprian  Goddess  weeping 
Mourn'd  Adonis,  darling  Youth  ; 
Him  the  boar,  in  silence  creeping, 
Gor'd  w^th  unrelenting  tooth. 

Cowper,  Translation  from  Milton  i.  :  — 

Adonis  turned  to  Flora's  favorite  flower. 

Shak.,  King  Henry  VI.  pt.  i.  i.  6,  6,  Venus  and  Adonis. 
Hermaphroditus  :  Ovid,  Met.  iv.  285  sq. 
Anchises  :  Homer,  II.  v.  247,  ii.  820  :  - 

AtVefas,  rbv  UTT'  ^Kyx'LffH  r^K€  8?  3A<f>podlTr). 

Ovid,  Trist.  ii.  299  ;  Vergil,  Aen.  i.,  et  passim  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xciv. 

Aeneas  :  Homer,  II.  ii.  passim  ;  Vergil,  Aen.  i.,  et  passim  ;  Ovid, 
Met.  xiii.  665;  Shak.,  The  Tempest  ii.  1,  79,  Midsummer  Night's 
Dream  i.  1,  173,  King  Henry  VI.  pt.  ii.  v.  2,  62,  Julius  Caesar  i. 
2,  112,  Antony  and  Cleopatra  iv.  14,  53. 

Eros  (Cupid):  Ovid,  Amor.  i.  1,  et  passim  ;  Vergil,  Aen.  i.  658, 
695  ;  Byron,  Childe  Harold  i.  9  :  — 

And  where  these  are  light  Eros  finds  a  fire. 
Pope,  Summer  13  :  -  ye  coo]ing  stteams> 

Defence  from  Phoebus',  not  from  Gupid's,  beams. 

Shak.,  The  Tempest  iv.  1,  90,  Romeo  and  Juliet  i.  4,  4,  Merchant 
of  Venice  ii.  6,  38,  Midsummer  Night's  Dream  i.  1,  169,  ii.  1,  161, 
iii.  2,  103  ;  Chaucer,  Knight's  Tale  765. 
Musae  :  Homer,  II.  ii.  484  :  — 

MoO(rcu  'OXtfyUTrta  5i6/iar'  e%ov(rcu  — 
ts  yap  deal  eo-re,  irapevrt  re  fore  re 
otoj>  aKotiojLev  ovd£  n 


Ovid,  Ars  Amat.  ii.  279  :  — 

Ipse  licet  venias  Musis  comitatus,  Homere  ; 
Amor.  iii.  12,  17,  Ibis  2  ;  Vergil,  Geor.  ii.  475  sq.  ;  Milton,  Par.  L. 

Sing  Heavenly  Muse  ; 

Descend  from  Heaven,  Urania,  by  that  name 
If  rightly  thou  art  called,  whose  voice  divine 
Following,  above  th'  Olympian  hill  I  soar, 
Above  the  flight  of  Pegasean  wing. 


THE  GREEK   GODS  87 

Wordsworth,  Ode  (1814)  v. :  — 

And  ye,  Pierian  Sisters,  sprung  from  Jove 
And  sage  Mnemosyne. 

Pope,  Spring  11 :  — 

O  let  my  Muse  her  slender  reed  inspire. 

Shak.,  Sonnet  xxxviii. ;  Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  Pr.  2  ;  Swift,  Last  Speech 
of  Daniel  Jackson  :  — 

There's  nine,  I  see,  the  Muses,  too,  are  nine. 
Who  would  refuse  to  die  a  death  like  mine! 

1.  Thou  first  rung,  Clio,  celebrate  my  name; 

2.  Euterp,  in  tragic  numbers  do  the  same. 

3.  This  rung,  I  see,  Terpsichore's  thy  flute. 

4.  Erato,  sing  me  to  the  gods  ;  ah,  do't; 

5.  Thalia,  don't  make  me  a  comedy ; 

6.  Urania,  raise  me  towards  the  starry  sky ; 

7.  Calliope,  to  ballad  strains  descend, 

8.  And  Polyhymnia,  tune  them  for  your  friend. 

9.  So  shall  Melpomene  mourn  my  fatal  end. 

Orpheus:  Vergil,  Geor.  iv.  454 ;  Ovid,  Met.  x.  3  sg.,  xi.  22  sq.  ; 
Hygimis,  Fab.  xiv. ;  Pope,  Summer  81 :  — 

But  would  you  sing  and  rival  Orpheus'  strain, 
The  wond'ring  forests  soon  should  dance  again; 
The  moving  mountains  hear  the  pow'rful  call, 
And  headlong  streams  hang  list'ning  in  their  fall ! 

Ode  on  St.  Cecilia's  Day  113  :  — 

Yet  ev'n  in  death  Eurydice  he  sung, 
Eurydice  still  trembled  on  his  tongue, 
Eurydice  the  woods,  Eurydice  the  floods, 
Eurydice  the  rocks,  and  hollow  mountains  rung ; 

Temple  of  Fame  83  ;  Shak.,  Titus  Andronicus  ii.  4,  51 :  — 
As  Cerberus  at  the  Thracian  poet's  feet ; 

Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona  iii.  2,  78,  Merchant  of  Venice  v.  1,  79, 
King  Henry  VIII.  iii.  1,  3,  Rape  of  Lucrece  79. 

2.   THE  DIVINITIES  OF  WAR  AND   STRIFE 

116.  The  god  that  inflamed  and  stirred  up  war  was 
called  Ares  (Lat.  Mars).  Originally  he  was  the  chief 
god  of  the  warlike  race  of  the  Thracians,  perhaps  as 


88  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

a  god  of  death  dwelling  in  the  depths  of  the  earth,  like 
the  Zeus  of  the  lower  world  (Hades-Pluto),  and  there- 
fore also  closely  related  to  the  earth's  fruitfulness.  Per- 
haps, however,  he  was  a  real  heavenly  Zeus  in  Thrace, 
and  when  imported  into  Greece  was  reduced  to  son- 
ship,  retaining  the  warlike  attributes  of  his  father  as 
his  own  special  characteristic. 

At  any  rate,  as  might  have  been  expected  from  the 
character  of  his  early  worshipers,  he  was  developed 
into  a  wildly  raging  war  god,  and  it  was  exclusively  as 
such  that  he  found  entrance  into  Greece.  Out  of  his 
ancient  epithet,  Enyalios,  which  seems  to  have  referred 
to  the  wild  war  cry,  was  developed  the  idea  that  he  had 
as  a  companion  a  destroying  war  goddess,  Enyo  (Lat. 
Bellona).  There  were  also  associated  with  him  Deimos 
(' terror7),  and  Phobos  ('fright'),  Eris  the  goddess  of 
f  strife '  (Lat.  Discordia),  and  the  Keres,  who  were  repre- 
sented as  dark-visaged  women  in  bloody  robes.  The 
Keres  were  believed  to  cause  death  in  battle,  and  are 
probably  to  be  regarded  as  having  been  originally  souls 
of  the  dead.  Ares,  however,  represented  only  rude, 
violent  warfare,  so  that  he  was  constantly  forced  to 
give  way  before  Athena  and  whoever  chanced  to  be 
her  proteges  (e.g.  Diomedes,  in  the  Fifth  Book  of  the 
Iliad). 

117.  In  Greece  Ares  was  looked  upon  as  the  son  of 
Zeus  and  Hera,  and  in  Thebes,  the  most  important  seat 
of  his  worship,  Aphrodite  was  called  his  wife.  The  epic 
poets,  however,  harmonized  two  myths  by  making  Aph- 
rodite the  wife  of  Hephaestus  and  at  the  same  time  the 
mistress  of  Ares.  In  Athens,  where  he  was  honored 
upon  the  *Apeio?  ?rayos  (Mars's  Hill)  as  god  of  the  atone- 


THE  GREEK  GODS  89 

ment  for  murder,  and  of  the  tribunal  that  decided  cases 
involving  life  and  death,  her  place  was  taken  by  the 
dew  nymph  Aglauros.  In  art  Ares  was  represented  as 
a  young  and  powerful  man,  in  early  times  bearded  and 
with  full  armor;  later,  beardless  and  usually  clothed 
only  with  a  helmet  and  a  chlamys.  His  symbol  was  the 
spear.  In  worship  he  had  as  a  further  attribute  an  in- 
cendiary's torch,  which  was  probably  a  symbol  of  the 
devastation  produced  by  war. 

Ares  (Mars)  :  Homer,  II.  passim;  Ovid,  Amor.  iii.  3,  27 :  — 

Nobis  f atif ero  Mayors  accingitur  ense ; 
Met.  iv.  170  sq.;  Vergil,  Geor.  iv.  346:- 

Martisque  dolos  et  dulcia  furta ; 

Vergil,  Aen.  passim ;  Horace,  Od.  i.  6,  13 ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  clix. ; 
Dryden,  Secular  Masque  53  :  — 

Mars  has  look'd  the  sky  to  red ; 
And  Peace,  the  lazy  God,  is  fled. 

Shak.,  King  Henry  IV.  pt.  i.  iv.  1,  116,  King  Henry  V.  Chorus  i.  6, 
Antony  and  Cleopatra  i.  1,  4,  Hamlet  iii.  4,  57  ;  Chaucer,  Knight's 
Tale  117,  et  passim  /  Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  xi.  7. 

Enyo  (Bellona)  :  Ovid,  Met.  v.  155,  Fast.  vi.  201 ;  Vergil,  Aen. 
viii.  703. 

3.    THE  DIVINITIES  OF  DESTINY 

118.  When  in  human  government  order  and  justice, 
as  opposed  to  the  arbitrary  will  of  the  sovereign,  grad- 
ually attained  a  commanding  influence,  it  came  to  pass 
that,  side  by  side  with  the  gods  of  earlier  times,  who 
were  represented  entirely  after  the  manner  of  human 
rulers  tainted  with  passion,  these  ideas  of  order  and 
justice  gained  an  independent  importance  by  being  per- 
sonified in  the  divinities  of  destiny.  In  Homer,  as  in 
the  governments  of  his  times,  their  position  was  still  a 


90  GREEK   AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

vague  one.  The  appointed  lot,  the  Moera  (more  rarely 
found  in  the  plural  form,  Moerae),  or  Aisa,  is  some- 
times considered  an  expression  of  the  will  of  Zeus;  in 
other  parts  of  the  Homeric  poems  it  already  stands  inde- 
pendently beside,  or  even  above  him,  and  he  then,  like 
the  other  gods,  becomes  merely  the  executor  of  its  (or 
their)  decrees.  Therefore  in  Hesiod  the  Moerae  are  called 
sometimes  daughters  of  night,  at  other  times  daughters 
of  Zeus  and  Themis.  They  decide  the  fate  of  every 
man  at  his  birth;  and  all  the  important  events  of  his 
life,  especially  marriage  and  death,  follow  their  decrees. 
From  the  time  of  Hesiod  three  Moerae  were  distin- 
guished :  Clotho  ('  spinner '),  who  spins  the  thread  of 
life  ;  Lachesis  ('  allotter '),  the  bestower  of  life's  lot ; 
Atropos  ('the  inevitable/  'the  unrelenting'),  who  sends 
death.  Accordingly  in  art  they  carry  as  symbols  a 
spindle  and  lots,  sometimes  also  a  scroll  and  a  balance, 
as  their  mother  Themis  does.  By  the  Romans  they  were 
identified  with  their  Fates  (Parcae  or  Fata). 

119.  Nemesis,  also,  who  appears  personified  first  in 
Hesiod,  represented  originally  the  idea  of  the  part  meas- 
ured out  (cf.  ve'/W).  She  guards  the  preservation  of  the 
just  measure;  so  her  attributes  are  the  cubit  and  the 
balance.  Since  she  censures  and  punishes  (ve/Aeoraa>, 
ve/xeo-i£oju,ai)  every  violation  of  proper  moderation,  espe- 
cially such  as  is  occasioned  by  excessive  self-confidence, 
she  becomes  also  the  angry  requiter ;  and,  as  the  one  who 
subdues  arrogance,  she  carries  a  bridle,  yoke,  and  whip. 
But  by  the  dropping  of  spittle  into  her  bosom  and  the 
loosening  of  her  garment  it  is  especially  indicated  that  she 
is  the  goddess  who  warns  against  presumptuousness ;  for 
it  was  customary  to  endeavor  to  shield  oneself  from  the 


THE  GREEK  GODS  91 

evil  consequences  of  such  presumption  by  these  signs  of 
self-abasement.  As  the  goddess  who  will  requite  in  the 
world  to  come  she  was  adored  at  Athens  at  the  feast 
of  the  Nemeseia;  but  she  enjoyed  real  worship  only  at 
Rhamnus  in  Attica.  (Concerning  her  identification  with 
Leda  see  §  135.) 

120.  The  latest  of  those  personifications  which  gradu- 
ally destroyed  the   old  belief  in  the   gods  was   Tyche 
(( the  lucky  accident/  Lat.  Fortuna).      She  was  indeed 
already  personified  by  the  earlier  lyric   poets,  but  did 
not  enjoy  any  general  adoration  as  a  divine  being  until 
faith  in  the  power  of  the  older  gods  began  to  wane.     In 
those  times  of  unbelief  she  was  first  considered  the  dis- 
penser of  fruitfulness  and  wealth,  as  well  as  the  disposer 
of  human  destiny,   and  the   rescuer  from   the   dangers 
of  sea  and  war.     Then  in  many  cases  she  came  to  be 
regarded  also  as  the  protecting  divinity  of   cities.     As 
attributes  she  had  the   cornucopia   and   rudder,  also   a 
rolling  wheel  or  a  ball,  to  indicate   the   mutability  of 
fortune. 

121.  The  worship  of  such  a  goddess  of  chance,  how- 
ever, signifies  properly  nothing  further  than  the  denial 
of  all  actual  divine  power.     So,  after  the  destruction  of 
the    old    positive  faith  in   gods   that  were    consciously 
and  benignly  guiding  the  world  and  human  destiny,  the 
Grecian  world  was  preparing  itself  for  the  reception  of 
the  new  doctrine  of  salvation  emanating  from  Palestine. 
For  though  philosophy  for  a  while  tried  to  revivify  the 
old   dead  forms   by  filling   them  with  ethical  ideas,  it 
never  could  afford  a  really  comforting,  steadfast  belief 
in  a  continued  life  after  death,  and  in  a  justice  that  com- 
pensates for  the  defects  of  this  earthly  existence. 


92  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Parcae:    Homer,  II.  xx.  127;    Hesiod,  Theog.  217,  904;    Old 
Verse :  — 

Clotho  colum  retinet,  Lachesis  net,  et  Atropos  secat. 

Vergil,  Eel.  iv.  46 ;   Ovid,  Trist.  v.  3,  25 ;   Hyginus,  Fab.  clxxi. ; 
Shak.,  Pericles  i.  2,  108:  — 

Till  the  Destinies  do  cut  his  thread  of  life. 

Tyche  (Fortuna):   Ovid,  Trist.  v.  8,  7;  Vergil,  Aen.  viii.  334; 
Shak.,  King  Henry  V.  iii.  6,  29. 


C.    THE   GKEEK   HEKOES 

122.  The  warrior  champions  of  the  early  ages  were 
called  '  heroes '  (17/00*9)  ;  but  their  worship  as  demigods 
does  not  surely  date  back  beyond  the  ninth,  or  perhaps 
the  eighth,  century  B.C.,  when  it  was  recognized  among  the 
Aeolian  tribes,  particularly  by  the  Boeotians,  with  whom 
also  the  worship  of  ancestors,  a  custom  of  very  ancient 
origin,  was  always  kept  up.     In  almost  every  case  the 
hero's  grave,  the  customary  place   of  sacrifice,  was  the 
central  point  of  his  worship. 

In  art  they  usually  appear  as  warrior  champions, 
often  011  horseback,  or  sitting  on  a  throne,  or  reclining 
on  a  couch  in  their  grave  and  feasting  (if  this  is  the 
correct  interpretation  of  the  '  funeral  meal  reliefs '), 
surrounded  by  their  adorers.  Therefore  besides  their 
armor  and  horse,  and  the  serpent  which  has  been  shown 
above  (§  5)  to  be  the  representative  of  the  soul,  a  cup 
became  their  usual  attribute. 

1.   THEBAN  LEGENDS 

123.  Cadmus,  the  founder  of  Cadmea,  to  which  he  him- 
self as  its  eponymous  hero  owes  his  name,  was  the  legen- 
dary ancestor  of  the  noble  tribe  which  settled  on  the  site 
of  the  citadel  of  Thebes.     At  a  neighboring  spring  dwelt 
a  dragon  descended  from  Ares.     This  Cadmus  slew,  and 

93 


94  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

from  the  sowing  of  its  teeth  in  the  ground  sprang  up 
the  brazen  Sparti  ('  sown  men ?),  i.e.  the  indigenous  in- 
habitants of  Thebes.  After  most  of  these  had  killed 
each  other  in  the  fratricidal  war  cunningly  incited  by 
Cadmus,  he  founded  Cadmea  with  the  help  of  the  five 
survivors,  i.e.  the  ancestors  of  the  noble  families  of 
Thebes.  Then  he  married  Harmonia  (<  harmony '),  who 
was  the  daughter  of  the  Boeotian  national  god  Ares  and 
of  Aphrodite,  —  a  myth  that  probably  refers  to  the  be- 
ginnings of  political  organization.  Of  their  children, 
Ino  and  Semele  were  especially  conspicuous.  At  last 
Cadmus  and  his  wife,  like  other  heroes,  assumed  the 
form  of  serpents,  but  both  were  removed  by  Zeus  to 
Elysium.  A  later  legend,  emanating  especially  from 
Delphi,  transfers  the  home  of  Cadmus  to  Phoenicia,  and 
makes  him  a  son  of  Agenor,  king  of  Tyre.  According 
to  this  version,  Agenor  sent  Cadmus  forth  in  company 
with  his  brothers,  the  national  heroes,  Phoenix,  Cilix, 
and  Thasus,  to  search  for  his  sister  Europa,  who  had 
been  carried  off  by  Zeus ;  and  in  his  wandering  he 
reached  Boeotia  and  founded  Thebes. 

124.  Antiope  ('the  one  looking  toward  you')  was  a 
Boeotian-Corinthian,  perhaps  closely  akin  to  Selene.  On 
the  mountain  Cithaeron  she  bore  the  Zeus-begotten  twins 
Amphion  and  Zethus,  who  are  probably,  like  the  Laco- 
nian  Dioscuri,  to  be  regarded  as  divinities  of  light.  When 
afterwards,  being  cruelly  tormented  by  Dirce,  the  jealous 
wife  of  her  uncle  Lycus,  she  fled  to  Cithaeron,  she  met 
her  sons,  who  had  been  reared  by  a  shepherd.  They 
did  not  recognize  her.  But  on  the  occasion  of  a  Diony- 
sus-festival she  was  again  caught  by  Dirce  and  in  punish- 
ment for  her  flight  was  about  to  be  dragged  to  death, 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  95 

bound  to  the  horns  of  a  bull.  Just  then  the  sons  learned 
from  their  foster  father  the  secret  of  their  origin,  rescued 
their  mother,  and  visited  the  cruel  punishment  with 
which  she  had  been  menaced  upon  Dirce  herself,  who 
after  her  death  was  changed  into  a  spring  near  Thebes. 
The  fastening  of  Dirce  to  the  bull  was  represented  in 
the  second  century  B.C.  by  Apollonius  and  Tauriscus  of 
Tralles  in  the  marble  group  commonly  known  as  "the 
Farnese  bull,"  which  is  now  in  Naples. 

The  twin  brothers  obtained  the  sovereignty  in  Thebes, 
and  surrounded  the  lower  city  with  a  wall  in  which  were 
seven  gates.  The  stones  dragged  along  by  the  powerful 
Zethus  piled  themselves  up  in  layers  regularly  of  them- 
selves by  the  magic  of  Amphion's  playing  on  the  lyre, 
—  a  legend  that  was  probably  intended  to  glorify  the 
regulating  power  of  music,  in  which  the  same  symmetry 
prevails  as  in  architecture. 

125.  Amphion  wedded  the  daughter  of  Tantalus,  Niobe, 
who  had  inherited  from  her  father  conscious  pride.  When 
she  had  borne  six  sons  and  six  daughters,  she  boasted 
that  she  was  richer  than  Leto,  who  had  but  two  children. 
Apollo  and  Artemis,  however,  revenged  the  insult  offered 
their  mother,  by  killing  the  children  of  Niobe,  who  in 
grief  at  their  loss  was  turned  into  stone  and  removed  to 
Mount  Sipylus  in  Lydia;  whereupon  Amphion  put  him- 
self to  death. 

A  representation  of  the  killing  of  the  children  of  Niobe 
was  executed  by  Scopas  or  Praxiteles,  probably  for  the 
city  of  Seleucia  in  Cilicia.  This  group  was  later  brought 
to  Rome.  We  are  acquainted  with  most  of  its  figures 
through  Eoman  copies  (the  most  complete  group  of  which 
is  in  Florence). 


96  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Cadmus:  Ovid,  Met.  iii.  1  sg.,  Trist.  iv.  3,  67;  Hyginus,  Fab. 
vi. ;  Pope,  Thebais  i.  8  :  — 

And  Cadmus  searching  round  the  spacious  seas  ? 
How  with  the  serpent's  teeth  he  sow'd  the  soil. 
Chaucer,  Knight's  Tale  688. 

Agenor :  Ovid,  Met.  iii.  51 ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  clxxviii. 
Amphion :  Vergil,  Eel.  ii.  24 :  — 

Amphion  Dircaeus. 

Ovid,  Met.  vi.  271 ;   Horace,  Ars  Poet.  394 ;   Pope,  The  Temple 
of  Fame  85  :  — 

Amphion  there  the  loud  creating  lyre 
Strikes,  and  beholds  a  sudden  Thebes  aspire ! 
Thebais  i.  12. 

Dirce  :  Hyginus,  Fab.  vii. 

Niobe  :  Homer,  II.  xxiv.  602 ;  Ovid,  Met.  vi.  148  sq. ;  Hyginus, 
Fab.  ix.,  x.,  xi.,  cxlv. 

2.   LEGENDS  OF  ARGOS,  MYCENAE,  AND  TIRYNS 

126.  As  has  been  learned  from  excavations,  the  district 
of  Argos  had  intimate  relations  with  Egypt  and  Asia  even 
as  early  as  the  flourishing  period  of  the  city  Mycenae, 
a  period  which  perhaps  extended  from  1450  to  1250  B.C. 
The  same  relations  appear  also  in  the  myths  of  this  region; 
the  story  of  lo  and  Danatis  suggests  an  alliance  with  Egypt ; 
that  of  Perseus  and  the  Pelopidae,  one  with  Asia. 

16,  the  daughter  of  the  river  god  Inachus,  was  beloved 
by  Zeus;  therefore  the  jealous  Hera  transformed  her  into 
a  heifer,  and  caused  her  to  be  guarded  by  the  many-eyed, 
( all-seeing J  (Panoptos)  Argus  in  the  vicinity  of  Mycenae, 
until,  at  the  command  of  Zeus,  he  was  put  to  sleep  and 
killed  by  Hermes,  who  perhaps  thus  won  the  epithet 
Argeiphontes  ('Argus-slayer'?).  Upon  this  lo  was  pur- 
sued over  sea  and  land  by  a  gadfly  sent  by  Hera;  but 
finally  in  Euboea  or  Egypt  she  regained  her  human  form, 
and  bore  Epaphus,  the  father  of  Danatis  and  Aegyptus. 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  97 

127.  Danaiis,  the  representative  of  the  Dana'i  dwelling 
in  Argolis  in  the  times  of  Homer,  migrated  to  Greece 
with  his  daughters,  the  Danaides,  according  to  the  legend, 
and  became  king  of  Argos.     The  fifty  sons  of  Aegyptus 
followed  them  and  courted  them,  but,  with  the  exception 
of  Lynceus,  whom  his  wife  Hypermnestra  spared,  were 
all  murdered  by  them  on  their  wedding  night  at  the  com- 
mand of  Danatis,  —  a  figurative  description  of  the  rivers  of 
Argos  (sons  of  the  Aegyptus  stream)  becoming  quite  dry  in 
summer  through  the  drying  up  of  the  springs  (Danaides). 
In  punishment  for  this  murder  the  Danaides  were  com- 
pelled in  the  lower  world  to  draw  water  in  a  perforated 
vessel,  an  idea  that  is  closely  connected  with  their  sig- 
nificance as  fountain  nymphs. 

128.  A  descendant  of  Lynceus  was  Acrisius,  king  of 
Argos.     Through  an  oracle  he  learned  that  he  was  to  be 
killed  by  a  grandson.     Therefore  he  concealed  his  daugh- 
ter Danae  in  a  brazen  tower  and  kept  her  strictly  guarded. 
Zeus,  however,  penetrated  to  her  in  the  form  of  golden 
rain,  and  she  became  the  mother  of  Perseus.     Acrisius 
then  shut  both  mother  and  child  up  in  a  chest  and  threw 
them  into  the   sea.     Simonides   of   Ceos,  with   delicate 
poetic  appreciation  of  their  fearful  peril,  describes  the 
situation  as  follows  :  — 

When,  in  the  carven  chest, 
The  winds  that  blew  and  waves  in  wild  unrest 
Smote  her  with  fear,  she,  not  with  cheeks  unwet, 
Her  arms  of  love  round  Perseus  set, 

And  said :  0  child,  what  grief  is  mine  ! 
But  thou  dost  slumber,  and  thy  baby  breast 
Is  sunk  in  rest, 

Here  in  the  cheerless  brass-bound  bark, 
Tossed  amid  starless  night  and  pitchy  dark. 

H 


98  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Nor  dost  thou  heed  the  scudding  brine 
Of  waves  that  wash  above  thy  curls  so  deep, 
Nor  the  shrill  winds  that  sweep,  — 
Lapped  in  thy  purple  robe's  embrace, 
Fair  little  face  ! 

But  if  this  dread  were  dreadful  too  to  thee, 
Then  wouldst  thou  lend  thy  listening  ear  to  me  ; 
Therefore  I  cry,  —  Sleep,  babe,  and  sea  be  still, 
And  slumber  our  unmeasured  ill ! 

Oh,  may  some  change  of  fate,  sire  Zeus,  from  thee 
Descend,  our  woes  to  end  ! 
But  if  this  prayer,  too  overbold,  offend 
Thy  justice,  yet  be  merciful  to  me  ! 

(Translated  by  J.  A.  Symonds.) 

Finally  they  reached  the  island  of  Seriphus,  where 
they  were  brought  to  land  by  the  fisherman  Dictys. 
When  Perseus  had  grown  up,  Polydectes,  the  ruler  of 
the  island,  who  was  a  suitor  of  Danae,  and  found  the 
son  in  his  way,  inveigled  the  young  man  into  a  prom- 
ise to  go  and  bring  the  head  of  the  Gorgon  Medusa. 
By  the  assistance  of  Hermes  and  Athena,  Perseus  sue* 
ceeded  in  cutting  off  the  head  of  the  monster  while 
she  was  asleep,  —  that  head  the  very  sight  of  which 
petrified  every  one  who  gazed  upon  it ;  but  he  escaped 
from  the  pursuing  sisters  of  Medusa  only  by  borrow- 
ing the  helmet  of  Hades,  which  rendered  him  invisible. 
In  Ethiopia  (Rhodes?)  he  rescued  the  daughter  of  Ce- 
pheus,  Andromeda,  who  had  been  bound  fast  to  a  rock 
on  the  shore  as  a  propitiatory  offering  to  a  sea  monster 
which  had  been  sent  by  Poseidon.  Then  after  chang- 
ing all  his  enemies  into  stone  by  showing  them  the 
Gorgon  head,  and  after  fulfilling  the  oracle  by  killing 
his  grandfather  inadvertently  by  a  throw  of  the  discus, 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  99 

he  ruled  in  Tiryns  with  his  wife  Andromeda,  and  from 
there  built  Mycenae. 

129.  A  more  recent  family,  yet  one  that  even  before 
the  Dorian  migration  was  powerful  in  Argos  and  a  large 
part  of  the  surrounding  Peloponnesus,  was  that  of  Tan- 
talus, who,  at  the  same  time,  dwelt  upon  Mount  Sipylus 
in  Asia  Minor.     He  is  a  mythological  figure  similar  to 
Atlas,  the  mountain  god,  who  bears  up  the  heavens ;  and 
his  name,  too,  seems  to  mean  "  bearer."     To  him,  as  the 
son  of  Zeus,  the  gods  vouchsafed  their  confidential  inter- 
course, but  by  his  gross  covetousness  and  his  presump- 
tion he  forfeited  their  favor.      Therefore  he  was  cast 
down  to  the  lower  world,  and  there  stood,  tormented  by 
hunger  and  thirst,  in  the  midst  of  water,  under  a  tree 
loaded  with  fruits ;  for  water  and  tree  alike  receded  as 
often  as  he  stretched  out  his  hand  toward  them.     Ac- 
cording to  another  legend  a  rock  hung  over  his  head 
constantly  threatening  to  fall  upon  him. 

130.  The  children  of  Tantalus  were  Niobe  and  Pelops, 
after  whom  the  Peloponnesus  ('  island  of  Pelops ')  is  said 
to  have  been  named.     Pelops  sued  for  the  hand  of  Hip- 
podamia  ('  tamer  of  horses J),  the  daughter  of  king  Oeno- 
maiis  of  Elis,  and  won  her  as  a  wager  in  a  chariot  race  with 
her  father,  who  lost  the  race,  and  perished,  through  the 
treachery  of  his  charioteer  Myrtilus.     The  preparations 
for  this  contest  were  represented  in  the  eastern  pediment 
of  the  temple  of  Zeus  at  Olympia. 

Atreus,  the  son  of  Pelops,  was  ruler  of  Mycenae  after 
the  death  of  Eurystheus.  According  to  the  older  legend, 
which  is  followed  in  the  Iliad,  his  brother  Thyestes 
inherited  the  kingdom  from  him  in  a  lawful  manner. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  later  epic  poets  and  the  tragic 


100  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

writers  entangle  the  descendants  of  Tantalus  in  a  series 
of  terrible  crimes.  According  to  them  Thyestes  robbed 
his  brother  Atreus  of  his  sovereignty  and  his  wife,  and 
brought  about  the  death  of  his  son.  Atreus,  however, 
after  regaining  the  royal  power,  revenged  himself  by 
slaying  the  sons  of  Thyestes  and  setting  their  flesh  as 
food  before  their  unwitting  father.  For  this,  Atreus,  in 
turn,  was  afterwards  murdered  by  a  son  of  Thyestes, 
Aegisthus,  whom  Atreus  had  treated  as  his  own  son 
and  brought  up  as  such. 

131.  Agamemnon  and  Menelaus,  the  real  sons  of 
Atreus,  in  due  time  dispossessed  Aegisthus  of  the  king- 
dom. The  former  became  king  of  Mycenae,  and  the 
latter  of  Lacedaemon.  Paris,  the  handsome  son  of 
Priam  of  Troia  ('  Troy '),  eloped  with  Helen,  the  wife  of 
Menelaus.  In  order  to  avenge  this  outrage,  the  two 
Atridae  ('sons  of  Atreus')  collected  a  mighty  Grecian 
army,  whose  leadership  Agamemnon  assumed.  When  the 
hosts  had  assembled  at  Aulis,  contrary  winds  prevented 
their  setting  sail,  because  their  leader  had  offended  the 
goddess  Artemis.  According  to  the  decision  of  the  seer 
Calchas,  the  goddess  could  be  propitiated  only  by  the 
sacrifice  of  Agamemnon's  daughter,  Iphigenia.  There- 
upon the  king  sent  a  messenger  to  his  wife  Clytaemnestra 
at  Mycenae,  to  tell  her  that  she  must  send  her  daughter 
to  the  camp  to  be  wedded  to  Achilles.  When,  however, 
in  response  to  this  deceptive  summons,  Iphigenia  arrived, 
and  was  dragged  to  the  altar  to  be  offered,  Artemis  inter- 
posed and  carried  her  off  to  Tauris  (the  Crimean  pen- 
insula), and  a  hind  was  found  standing  at  the  altar  in 
place  of  the  maiden.  Agamemnon,  now,  with  many  other 
heroes,  proceeded  against  Troy.  Meanwhile  Aegisthus 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  101 

seduced  Clytaemnestra,  who  was  angry  at  her  husband  on 
account  of  the  attempted  sacrifice  of  Iphigenia ;  and  the 
guilty  pair  finally  murdered  the  king  when  he  returned 
ten  years  later,  after  the  conquest  of  Troy.  In  Laconia, 
Chaeronea,  and  Clazomenae,  however,  Agamemnon  was 
worshiped  in  later  times  as  a  Zeus  of  the  lower  world, 
under  the  name  of  Zeus  Agamemnon  (cf.  Z.  Basileus),  in 
the  form  of  a  scepter,  the  symbol  of  dominion. 

At  the  murder  of  her  father,  the  elder  daughter  of 
Agamemnon,  Electra,  rescued  her  youthful  brother 
Orestes,  and  took  him  to  Strophius,  king  of  Phocis,  with 
whose  son  Py lades  he  formed  a  close  friendship.  When 
grown  up  to  young  manhood  he  hastened  back  to  Mycenae 
to  take  vengeance  on  his  father's  two  murderers.  In 
the  Electra  of  Sophocles,  and  still  more  in  Euripides's 
play  of  the  same  name,  Electra,  whom  her  mother  has 
so  wronged,  herself  goads  her  brother  on  to  the  dread- 
ful murder,  when  he  hesitates  at  the  sight  of  his  mother. 
Clytaemnestra  falls  first,  pierced  by  her  son's  sword; 
afterwards,  Aegisthus  also.  But  Orestes  has  scarcely 
shed  his  mother's  blood  before  the  Erinyes  start  in  his 
pursuit.  Eestless  and  miserable,  he  wanders  about  until 
at  the  bidding  of  the  Delphic  oracle  he  goes  to  Tauris, 
for  the  purpose  of  taking  the  image  of  Artemis  which 
was  there  to  Greece.  Being  caught  in  the  attempt  to 
carry  this  off,  he  is  about  to  be  slain  as  an  offering  to  the 
goddess.  But  there  he  finds  in  the  temple  his  sister  Iphi- 
genia as  a  priestess ;  and  by  her  assistance  he  escapes, 
carrying  with  him  his  sister  and  the  image  of  the  god- 
dess. Pylades,  who  has  accompanied  him  everywhere, 
now  marries  Electra,  while  Orestes  himself  weds  the  beau- 
tiful Hermione,  the  daughter  of  Menelaus  and  Helen. 


102  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Argus:  Ovid,  Amor.  iii.  4,  19:  — 

Centum  f route  oculos,  centum  cervice  gerebat ; 
Met.  i.  624  sq.,  ii.  533 :  - 

Tarn  nuper  pictis  caeso  pavonibus  Argo. 
Vergil,  Aen.  vii.  791;  Pope,  Thebais  i.  355:  — 

And  there  deluded  Argus  slept,  and  bled. 
Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  iv.  17. 

Epaphus:  Ovid,  Met.  i.  748;  Hyginus,  Fab.  cxlix.,  cl. 
Danaiis :  Ovid,  Her.  viii.  24 ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  elxviii.,  clxx. 
Danae:    Ovid,  Met.  iv.  611;   Vergil,  Aen.  vii.  410;   Hyginus, 
Fab.  Ixiii. ;  Tennyson,  The  Princess  vii.  167  :  — 

Now  lies  the  Earth  all  Danae  to  the  stars 
And  all  thy  heart  lies  open  unto  me. 

Perseus:  Homer,  II.  xiv.  319;  Ovid,  Met.  iv.  610  sq.,  v.  16  sg., 
"Sappho"  35;  Hyginus,  Fab.  Ixiii.,  Ixiv. ;  Pope,  Sappho  to 
Phaon  41 :  An  Ethiopian  dame 

Inspired  young  Perseus  with  a  generous  flame  ; 
Temple  of  Fame  80 :  - 

And  Perseus  dreadful  with  Minerva's  shield. 
Cepheus :  Ovid,  Met.  iv.  737,  v.  12  sq. ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  Ixiv. 
Andromeda :  Ovid,  Met.  iv.  757  sq. ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  Ixiv. 
Tantalus :   Homer,  Od.  xl.  582  ;   Hyginus,  Fab.  Ixxxii. ;  Pope, 
Thebais  i.  345 :  — 

The  guilty  realms  of  Tantalus  shall  bleed. 
Atlas:  Ovid,  Her.  ix.  18:  — 

Hercule  supposito  sidera  f ulsit  Atlans ; 
Met.  iv.  632  sq.,  Fast.  v.  180 ;  Vergil,  Aen.  iv.  481 :  — 

Ubi  maximus  Atlas 
Axem  humero  torquet  stellis  ardentibus  aptum. 

Milton,  Par.  L.  ii.  306 :  — 

With  Atlantean  shoulders  fit  to  bear 

The  weight  of  mightiest  monarchies. 
Cowper,  Translation  from  Milton,  To  his  Father:  — 

And  Atlas  stands  unconscious  of  his  load. 
Pope,  Thebais  i.  138 :  — 

Affrighted  Atlas,  on  the  distant  shore, 

Trembled,  and  shook  the  heav'ns  and  gods  he  bore. 
Shak.,  King  Henry  VI.  pt.  iii.  v.  1,  36. 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  103 

Pelops:  Ovid,  Met.  vi.  403  sq. ;  Vergil,  Geor.  iii.  7;  Hyginus, 
Fab.  Ixxxiii.,  Ixxxvi.-lxxxviii. 

Hippodamia  (Daughter  of  Oenomatis)  :  Ovid,  Her.  viii.  70 ; 
Hyginus,  Fab.  Ixxxiv. 

Oenomaus :  Ovid,  Ibis  365  sq. ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  Ixxxiv. 

Thyestes:  Ovid,  Ars  Amat.  i.  327;  Hyginus,  Fab.  Ixxxvi., 
Ixxxviii. 

Aegisthus :  Ovid,  Rem.  Amor.  161 ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  Ixxxvii. 

Agamemnon :  Homer,  II.  passim ;  Aeschylus,  Agamemnon  ; 
Sophocles,  Electra ;  Euripides,  Orestes ;  Ovid,  Met.  xv.  855 ;  Horace, 
Od.  iv.  9,  25 ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xcvii. 

Menelaiis :  Homer,  II.  passim ;  Ovid,  Ars  Amat.  ii.  359 ; 
Vergil,  Aen.  vi.  525  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  cxviii. ;  Shak.,  King  Henry  VI. 
pt.  iii.  ii.  2,  147 ;  Troilus  and  Cressida  Prol.  9. 

Paris:  Homer,  II.  passim;  Ovid,  Epis.  v.,  xv.,  xvi. ;  Vergil, 
Eel.  ii.  61,  Aen.  i.  27 ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xci.,  xcii. 

Helen:  Homer,  II.  passim,  Od.  iv.  passim;  Euripides,  Helen ; 
Vergil,  Aen.  vii.  364  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  Ixxix ;  Shak.,  King  Henry  VI. 
pt.  iii.  ii.  2,  146,  Troilus  and  Cressida  Prol.  9. 

Iphigenia  :  Euripides,  Iphigenia  at  Tauris,  Iphigenia  at  Aulis ; 
Ovid,  Met.  xii.  31,  Ex  Pont.  iii.  ii.  62 ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xcviii.,  cxx. 

Orestes :  Aeschylus,  Choephori ;  Euripides,  Orestes,  Iphigenia ; 
Ovid,  Ex  Pont.  iii.  ii.  69  s#.,  Her.  viii. ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  cxix. 

Hermione :  Homer,  Od.  iv.  14 ;  Ovid,  Her.  viii. 

3.    CORINTHIAN  LEGENDS 

132.  The  relations  were  intimate  between  Argos  and 
Corinth,  which,  in  consequence  of  its  situation,  developed 
very  early  into  an  important  commercial  town,  and  was 
especially  influenced  by  Phoenicia.  As  early  as  the 
Iliad  we  find  mention  of  the  crafty,  covetous  Sisyphus, 
ruler  of  Ephyra,  i.e.  the  Acrocorinth,  who  later  sank 
down  to  the  level  of  a  mere  arithmetician  and  intriguer, 
the  type  and  copy  of  the  average  Corinthian  merchant. 
Because  he  had  offended  Zeus  he  was  condemned  in  the 
lower  world  to  keep  eternally  rolling  a  rock  up  a  steep 
hillside,  though  it  always  rolled  down  again  as  soon 


104  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

as  it  reached  the  summit.  Since  at  other  times  Sisy- 
phus is  also  characterized  as  an  old  sea  god,  this  pun- 
ishment may  be  considered  a  symbol  of  the  waves  of 
the  sea  ceaselessly  rolling  the  stones  to  and  fro  on  the 
shore. 

133.  His  grandson  Bellerophontes  (or,  in  a  shortened 
form,  Bellerophon)  possessed  the  winged  horse  Pegasus. 
With  the  help  of  this  horse,  having  been  sent  to  Lycia, 
he  killed  the  frightful  Chimaera  ('goat'),  a  monster 
composed  of  a  fire-breathing  she-goat,  a  lion,  and  a  ser- 
pent. Originally  this  was  an  imaginative  representation 
of  the  thundercloud  sending  forth  the  ragged,  roaring, 
and  serpentine  lightning ;  but  later  it  probably  symbol- 
ized also  the  volcanic  phenomena  of  Lycia.  Bellerophon 
fought  successfully  with  the  mountainous  race  of  the 
Solymi,  the  neighbors  of  the  Ethiopians  and  Lycians 
(i.e.  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  of  light),  and  also 
with  the  Amazons.  At  last  he  attempted  on  his  thunder- 
horse  to  enter  heaven  itself,  but  was  flung  down  and 
perished  miserably,  —  a  legend  no  doubt  representing 
the  lightning  darting  down  from  heaven  to  earth.  In 
Corinth,  as  well  as  in  Lycia,  he  received  adoration  as  a 
divine  being.  Bellerophon,  as  is  evidenced  by  his  rela- 
tion to  Pegasus,  the  embodiment  of  the  thundercloud,  and 
by  his  killing  the  monster  of  the  thunderstorm,  was  a 
figure  closely  related  to  the  lightning  hero  Perseus,  who 
was  indigenous  to  the  neighboring  Argos. 

Sisyphus  :  Homer,  II.  vi.  153,  Od.  xi.  593  sq.  ;  Ovid,  Met. 
iv.  460,  Fast.  iv.  175  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  Ix.  ;  Pope,  Ode  on  St. 
Cecilia's  Day  66  :  — 

Thy  stone,  O  Sisyphus,  stands  still. 
Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  v.  35. 


THE   GREEK  HEROES  105 

Bellerophon :  Homer,  II.  vi.  155  sq.  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  Ivii. 
Pegasus:   Ovid,   Met.   iv.  786;   Hyginus,  Fab.  Ivii. ;   Spenser, 
F.  Q.  i.  ix.  21  ;  Shak.,  King  Henry  V.  iii.  7,  11. 

Chimaera  :  Homer,  II.  vi.  179  ;  Ovid,  Met.  ix.  647  :  — 

Quoque  Chimaera  jugo  mediis  in  partibus  ignem, 
Pectus  et  ora  leae,  caudam  serpentis  habebat. 

Vergil,  Aen.  vi.  288  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  Ivii. 

4.   LACONIAN  LEGENDS 

134.  Before  the  Dorian  migration  the  most  important 
place  in  Laconia  was  Amyclae,  situated  south  of  Sparta, 
and  one  of  the  chief  seats  of  the  worship  of  Apollo. 
Here,  or  in  Sparta,  ruled  Tyndaretis  and  his  wife  Leda. 
The  latter  became  by  Zeus,  who  was  enthroned  upon  the 
neighboring  mountain  Taygetus,  the  mother  of  the  Dios- 
curi ('sons  of  Zeus'),  Pollux  (G-k.  Polydeukes)  and  Cas- 
tor.    Afterwards,  when  Zeus  in  the  form  of  a  swan  had 
approached  her,  she  bore  Helen  also.     To  Tyndaretis  she 
bore  Clytaemnestra ;  and  in  the  later  version  Castor  also, 
who  was  a  mortal,  was  regarded  as  his  son. 

135.  The  Dioscuri,  who  were  perhaps  ancient  divini- 
ties of  light,  had  their  chief  abode  in  Laconia,  Messenia, 
and  Argos,  but  after  a  while  their  worship  spread  over 
the  whole  Grecian  world,  so  that  they  were  everywhere 
invoked  as  rescuers  in  danger  (Soteres),  or  as  rulers  (Ana- 
Jces),  particularly  in  battle  or  in  storms  at  sea.      Some- 
times their  sister  Helen  was  worshiped  as  a  protecting 
goddess  with  them.      She  may  be  considered   a   moon 
goddess,  and  was  in  later  times  called  the  daughter  of 
avenging  Nemesis  only  on  account  of  her  fatal  signifi- 
cance for  Troy  and  the  Greek  people.     Both  Dioscuri 
were  believed  to  ride  upon  white  horses ;    and,  besides 
being  a  master  of  horsemanship,  Pollux  was  regarded  as 


106  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

a  powerful  boxer.  After  the  death,  of  Castor,  who  was 
slain  by  the  Messenian  hero  Idas,  Pollux  obtained  from 
Zeus  permission  for  himself  and  his  brother  to  spend  the 
time  together  forever,  by  living  one  day  in  the  lower 
world  and  the  next  on  Olympus. 

In  art  the  Dioscuri  appear  usually  as  youthful  riders, 
clad  only  in  the  chlamys,  and  armed  with  the  lance. 
As  heroes,  the  serpent  was  their  attribute ;  but  later  the 
pointed,  egg-shaped  hat  (77-1X0$),  or  the  addition  of  two 
stars,  characterized  them. 

Leda:  Homer,  Od.  xi.  298;  Ovid,  Her.  xvi.  55,  Met.  vi.  109; 
Hyginus,  Fab.  Ixxvii. ;  Keats,  Endymion  i.  157  :  — 
Wild  thyme,  and  valley  lilies  whiter  still 
Than  Leda's  love,  and  cresses  from  the  rill. 

Dioscuri  (Pollux  and  Castor):  Ovid,  Amor.  iii.  2,  54:  — 

Pollucem  pugiles,  Castora  placet  eques ; 

Fast.  v.  709  sq.;  Hyginus,  Fab.  Ixxx.  ;  Macaulay,  Battle  of  Lake 
Regillus  2. 

Idas :  Homer,  II.  ix.  558  ;  Ovid,  Fast.  v.  700  sq. 

5.   HERCULES 

136.  Hercules  (Gk.  Herdkles)  was  the  son  of  Zeus  and 
Alcmene  ('  strength '),  the  wife  of  king  Amphitryon  of 
Thebes,  and  thus  was  a  descendant  of  Perseus.  His 
names  are  as  various  as  his  functions.  In  his  youth,  i.e. 
in  Thebes,  where  the  story  of  his  youth  is  laid,  he  was 
called  also  Alcaeus  ('  the  strong '),  from  which  is  derived 
his  epithet  Alcides.  His  principal  name,  which  is  proba- 
bly of  Argive  origin,  it  has  not  yet  been  possible  to  ex- 
plain with  certainty.  The  second  part,  cules  (/cX^s), 
belongs,  like  the  fuller  form  /cXetros,  to  /cAeo?  ('fame'); 
but  whether  or  not  the  first  part  is  connected  with  Hera, 
,  the  protecting  goddess  of  Argos,  who  imposed 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  107 

upon  him  his  labors,  cannot  be  positively  decided. 
While  he  was  worshiped  especially  by  the  Boeotians, 
Dorians,  and  Thessalians  (as,  indeed,  it  was  with  the 
Boeotians  that  all  hero  worship  in  its  full  develop- 
ment appeared  first),  yet  from  the  earliest  times  in 
Athens,  Marathon,  and  Leontini,  he  enjoyed  divine  honors 
as  Alexikakos  ('  defender  from  evil '),  and  Kallinlkos  ('  glo- 
rious victor ').  In  later  times  he  was  regarded  as  the  chief 
representative  of  the  wrestling  art  and  therefore  also  as 
the  founder  of  the  Olympian  games ;  and  his  statue  ap- 
peared everywhere  in  the  gymnasiums  and  adjacent  baths, 
so  that  he  became  by  such  association  the  god  of  all  warm 
baths  and  other  healing  waters  or  springs.  On  account 
of  his  clearing  the  highways  of  enemies,  he  appears  also 
as  the  god  that  escorts  travelers  (Hegemonies).  He  is 
often  attended  by  his  protectress  Athena,  more  rarely 
also  by  Hermes  and  Apollo. 

137.  He  was  hated  by  Hera,  just  as  were  all  the  sons  of 
Zeus  begotten  from  other  wives.  Therefore,  since  Zeus  had 
decreed  the  dominion  over  Argos  to  the  next  descendant 
of  Perseus  who  should  be  born,  Hera  delayed  the  birth  of 
Hercules  until  his  cousin  Eurystheus  had  seen  the  light 
of  day  in  Mycenae,  and  had  thus  become  ruler  of  Argos, 
and  liege  lord  of  Hercules.  Evidently,  however,  Tiryns 
was  regarded  as  the  birthplace  of  Hercules ;  for  the  dis- 
tant Thebes,  though  spoken  of  in  the  Iliad  as  his  home, 
never  can  have  stood  in  such  a  dependent  relation  to  My- 
cenae as  would  be  implied  by  the  legend  just  mentioned. 

While  yet  in  his  cradle  Hercules  strangled  two  serpents 
which  Hera  had  dispatched  against  him.  After  he  had 
slain  with  the  lyre  his  teacher  Linus,  who  had  chastised 
him,  Amphitryon  sent  him  to  tend  flocks  upon  Mount 


108  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Cithaeron,  where  he  killed  a  powerful  lion.  When  his 
father  had  fallen  in  battle  against  the  Orchomenians, 
Creon,  the  last  of  the  Sparti,  became  king  of  Thebes,  and 
to  Hercules  was  given  his  daughter  Megara  as  a  wife. 
In  a  fit  of  madness,  which  Hera  decreed  upon  him,  he 
killed  his  three  children  with  bow  and  arrows.  On  his 
recovery  he  was  compelled  in  expiation  of  his  crime  to 
enter  the  service  of  Eurystheus,  who  laid  upon  him  a 
series  of  difficult  labors,  the  order  of  which  varies  in 
different  versions  of  the  myth.  The  collection  of  legends 
describing  these  labors  forms  the  connecting  link  between 
the  Theban-Boeotian  and  the  Argive-Dorian  Hercules 
myths.  The  latter  of  these  two  series  of  myths  seems 
to  embrace  the  labors  in  their  oldest  form. 

138.  According  to  this  version  Hercules  had  his  abode 
in  Tiryns,  south  of  Mycenae,  to  which,  indeed,  the  story 
of  his  birth  points.     (1)  He  fought  at  Tiryns,  as  he  had 
done  on  Cithaeron,  with  a  powerful  lion,  which  lived  on 
Mount  Apesas,  between  Nemea  and  Mycenae.      After 
this  he  wore  the  skin  of  this  lion,  flung  over  the  upper 
part  of  his  body,  as  a  characteristic  dress.     (2)  Accom- 
panied by  his   friend   and   charioteer,  lolaus,   he   went 
against  the  Hydra,  a  nine-headed  water  serpent  in  the 
marshy  springs  of  Lerna,  south  of  Argos.     In  place  of 
every  one  of  the  monster's  heads  that  was  struck   off 
two   new  ones   grew,  until   lolaus   set   the   neighboring 
woods  on  fire  and  burned  out  the  wounds  (i.e.  dried  up 
the  springs).     The  last  immortal  head  Hercules  covered 
with  a  block  of  stone.     Then  he  moistened  the  tips  of 
his  arrows  with  the  venom  of  the  monster. 

139.  (3)  From  Mount  Ery  man  thus  in  Arcadia,    from 
whose  snow-covered  summit  a  wild  mountain  stream  of 


THE  GREEJSjRQggR  \XjS  109 


the  same  name  rushes  down,  a  wild  boar  (a  symbol  of  this 
stream)  was  laying  waste  the  fields  of  Psophis.  Hercules 
pursued  him  up  into  the  glaciers,  and  brought  him  in 
chains  to  Eurystheus,  who  in  terror  hid  in  a  cask.  On 
Mount  Pholoe,  which  is  near  Erymanthus,  he  lodged 
with  the  Centaur  Fholus,  who  was  named  after  the  moun- 
tain and  was  a  counterpart  of  Chiron,  who  dwelt  on  the 
Thessalian  Pelion.  As  Hercules  was  being  there  regaled 
with  the  wine  which  belonged  to  all  the  Centaurs  in 
common,  he  fell  into  a  quarrel  with  them,  and  finally 
killed  most  of  them  with  his  arrows.  Pholus  and  Chi- 
ron perished  also  by  carelessly  wounding  themselves 
with  some  of  the  arrows.  Then,  after  Hercules,  still 
operating  in  Arcadia,  had  (4)  caught  the  hind  of  Cery- 
nea  and  (5)  driven  out  the  storm  birds  whose  nests  were 
011  the  lake  of  Stymphalus,  birds  that  shot  out  their 
feathers  like  arrows,  his  native  land  of  Argolis  was 
insured  against  all  dangers. 

140.  The  scenes  of  the  following  expeditions  were 
farther  away.  (6)  Upon  an  Elean  local  legend  rests  the 
story  of  the  cleansing  of  the  stables  of  king  Augeas  (<  the 
beaming  one  ?),  of  Elis.  Though  three  thousand  cattle 
had  been  kept  there,  the  cleansing  must  be  completed  in 
a  single  day.  This  feat,  according  to  the  tradition,  Hercu- 
les accomplished  by  conducting  the  river  Menios  ('  moon 
river  ')  through  the  place.  But  upon  a  metope  of  the 
temple  of  Olympian  Zeus,  the  only  extant  representation 
in  art  of  this  adventure,  he  is  represented  as  using  a 
long  broom.  Augeas  promised  Hercules  for  his  labor 
a  tenth  part  of  his  herds,  but  did  not  keep  his  word  ; 
wherefore  he  and  all  his  champions  were  afterwards 
slain  by  Hercules  after  a  stubborn  resistance. 


110  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

141.  Perhaps  there  is  some  connection  between  this 
last  legend  and  that  (10)  (usually  put  in  the  tenth  place 
in  the  series)  of  the  robbery  of  the  cattle  of  the  giant 
Geryones  ('  roarer '),  who  likewise  ruled  in  the  far  west 
on  the  island  Erythea  ((  red  land ').     In  order  to  ride 
over  Oceanus,  Hercules  compelled  Helios  to  lend  him 
his  sun  skiff ;  then  he  killed  the  three-bodied  giant  with 
his  arrows.     When  returning,  he  overpowered  the  fire- 
breathing  giant  Cacus  on  the  site  of  the  future  city  of 
Rome,  who  had  stolen  from  him  and  hidden  in  a  cave  a 
part  of  the  cattle  of  Geryones  which  he  had  carried  off. 
In  Sicily,  moreover,  he  defeated  Eryx,  a  mighty  boxer 
and  wrestler,  the  representative  of  the  mountain  of  the 
same  name. 

(7)  The  seventh  adventure,  the  binding  of  the  Cretan 
bull,  and  (9)  the  ninth,  the  fight  with  the  Amazons,  the 
girdle  of  whose  queen,  Hippolyte,  he  is  said  to  have 
demanded  on  a  commission  of  Eurystheus,  are  perhaps 
borrowed  from  the  legends  of  Theseus,  who  accom- 
plished similar  acts;  but  since  Hercules's  battle  with 
the  Amazons  appeared  in  works  of  art  somewhat  earlier 
than  that  of  Theseus,  the  reverse  process,  namely  that 
of  a  transfer  from  Hercules  to  Theseus,  is  not  impos- 
sible. (8)  As  his  eighth  task,  Hercules  received  the 
command  to  fetch  the  horses  of  the  Thracian  king 
Diomedes.  Diomedes  dwelt  in  the  far  north,  and  his 
horses  were  fed  on  human  flesh.  This  task  was  accom- 
plished after  throwing  the  cruel  king  before  his  own 
horses. 

142.  His  last  two   adventures   are   closely  connected 
with  each  other,  both  representing  how  Hercules,  at  the 
end  of  his  life,  laboriously  obtained  immortality  by  his 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  111 

journeys  into  the  lower  world  and  into  the  garden  of  the 
gods.  These  ideas,  to  be  smre,  were  afterwards,  with  the 
union  of  the  Argive  and  the  Thessalian-Oetaean  legends, 
supplanted  by  the  myth  that  he  destroyed  himself  by 
fire.  (11)  On  the  way  to  the  garden  of  the  Hesperides 
('  western '),  who  guarded  the  golden  apples  of  rejuve- 
nation, and  dwelt  where  the  edge  of  the  western  sky  is 
gilded  by  the  setting  sun,  he  throttled  the  giant  An- 
taeus, lifting  him  up  from  the  Earth,  his  mother,  who 
was  constantly  supplying  him  with  new  strength.  Then 
he  slew  king  Buslris  in  Egypt,  who  cruelly  sacrificed  all 
strangers  cas*t  upon  the  coast  of  his  country.  In  the 
name  Busiris  certainly  lurks  that  of  the  Egyptian  god 
Osiris.  Finally,  after  liberating  Prometheus,  who  had 
been  chained  on  Caucasus  by  Zeus,  he  came  to  Atlas, 
who  bore  the  heavens  upon  his  shoulders  (as  every 
mountain  apparently  does).  Hercules  begged  him  to 
pluck  three  apples  from  the  tree  of  the  Hesperides. 
Meanwhile  he  himself  took  Atlas's  place  in  bearing  up 
the  heavens,  or,  in  his  own  person  went  into  the  garden 
of  the  gods  and  slew  the  dragon  that  guarded  the  tree. 

143.  (12)  The  bringing  up  of  the  hellhound  Cerberus 
from  the  lower  world  was  put  last,  on  the  ground  of  its 
being  the  most  difficult  labor.  Evidently  it  had  been  for- 
gotten that  the  fetching  of  the  apples  that  bestow  eternal 
youth  out  of  the  land  imagined  to  be  in  the  extreme  west 
properly  signified  the  reception  of  Hercules  among  the 
gods.  This  latter  thought  was  certainly  represented  in 
the  later  idea  (which  likewise  probably  belongs  to  the 
Argive  legend)  of  the  marriage  of  Hercules  with  Hebe 
('bloom  of  youth7).  She  was  the  daughter  and  counterpart 
of  Hera  (who  by  this  time  had  been  appeased),  while  the 


112  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Italian  legend  unites  its  Hercules  with.  Juno  herself. 
Hercules  went  down  into  the  lower  world  at  the  promon- 
tory Taenarum,  freed  Theseus  from  his  imprisonment, 
chained  Cerberus,  and  came  up  with  them  at  Troezen 
or  Hermione. 

Another,  perhaps  an  older,  form  of  the  same  legend 
is  apparently  to  be  seen  in  the  story,  mentioned  as  early 
as  the  Iliad,  of  the  expedition  of  Hercules  against  Pylus 
('gate'  of  the  lower  world),  during  which  he  wounded 
with  three-pointed  arrows  his  inveterate  enemy  Hera,  and 
also  Hades,  the  rider  of  the  lower  world.  After  the  com- 
pletion of  the  labors  imposed  upon  him  by  Eurystheus, 
the  servitude  of  Hercules  came  to  an  end.  The  appli- 
cation of  the  number  twelve  to  his  labors  seems,  how- 
ever, not  to  have  been  definitely  made  until  about 
480  B.C. 

144.  The  third  principal  group  of  the  Hercules  myths 
is  formed  by  the  expeditions  located  in  Thessaly  and  on 
Oeta.  To  this  group  originally  belonged  also  his  sacking 
Oechalia,  and  his  servitude  to  Omphale.  Hercules  sued 
for  the  hand  of  lole,  the  daughter  of  the  mighty  archer 
Eurytus,  who  ruled  in  Thessaliaii  Oechalia.  But  though 
he  defeated  her  father  in  an  archery  contest,  she  was 
refused  him.  A  short  time  thereafter,  in  revenge,  he 
hurled  her  brother  Iphitus  down  from  a  precipice, 
although  he  was  staying  as  the  friend  and  guest  of  Her- 
cules ;  and  later  he  also  took  the  city,  and  carried  lole 
with,  him  as  a  captive.  To  be  absolved  from  this  blood- 
guiltiness,  he  went  to  Delphi;  but  Apollo  delayed  his 
answer.  Then  Hercules  seized  the  holy  tripod,  to  carry 
it  away ;  the  strife  thus  kindled  was  stopped  by  the 
interposition  of  a  lightning  flash  from  Zeus.  Hercules 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  113 

was  now  told  by  the  oracle  that  he  could  be  ransomed 
from  his  guilt  only  by  a  three  years'  servitude. 

145.  Hermes  therefore  sold  him  to  Omphale,  who  was 
in  later  times  commonly  regarded  as  queen  of  the  Lydians 
and  as  ancestress  of  the  Lydian  kings ;  probably,  however, 
she  is  only  the  eponymous  heroine  of  a  city  Omphalium, 
which  is  believed  to  have  existed  in  early  times  on  the 
border  between  Thessaly  and  Epirus.     For  in  her  service 
he  scourged  the  Itonians,  i.e.,  of  course,  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Thessalian  Itonus,  where  he  also  fought  with  the 
mighty  Cycnus.     He  punished  likewise  the  sly  thieves, 
whose  home  was  near  Thermopylae,  the  Cercopes,  and 
also  Syleus  (< robber')  on  Pelion.     But  Lamios  (or  La- 
mus),  the  son  of  Hercules  and  Omphale,  is  merely  the 
eponym  of   the  city  Lamia,  situated  not   far   north   of 
Trachis.     Perhaps  it  was  not  till  after  the  home  of  the 
legend  was  transferred  to  Lydia  that  the  poetic  addition 
to  the  story  was  made  that  Hercules  clothed  himself  as  a 
maidservant  and  worked  with  the  distaff,  while  Omphale 
adorned  herself  with  his  lion's  skin  and  his  club. 

146.  Directly  connected  with   these   legends,  and,  as 
their  field  of  action  is  in  the  neighboring  Aetolia,  prob- 
ably allied  in  origin,  is   Hercules's  wooing  of  Deianira 
('  husband-destroyer ').     She  was  .the  daughter  of  king 
Oeneus  in  Calydon,  a  country  abounding  in  vines,  where, 
to  gain  possession  of  her,  Hercules  (probably  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  civilization)  was  forced  to  fight  with  the  wild 
river  god  Achelotis.     The  latter  appears  sometimes  as  a 
natural  river,  again  as  a  bull,  and  still  again  as  a  man 
with  a  bull's  head.     Not  until  Hercules  breaks  off  one 
of  his  horns  does  he  acknowledge  himself  conquered,  and 
offers,  in  order  to  recover  it,  to  give  in  exchange  the  horn  of 


114  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

the  she-goat  Amalthea,  i.e.  the  horn  of  plenty,  from  which 
issues  a  stream  of  nourishment  and  blessing.  Yet  this 
horn  properly  belongs  to  Hercules  himself  as  the  dis- 
penser of  fruitfulness,  in  which  capacity  he  was  much 
worshiped,  especially  in  the  country.  A  counterpart  of 
the  battle  with  the  river  god  is  furnished  by  the  wrest- 
ling match  (usually  introduced  in  connection  with  the 
Hesperides  adventure)  with  Hallos  Geron,  the  old  man 
of  the  sea,  who  afterwards  is  called  Nereus  or  Triton. 

147.  On  his  journey  back  to  Trachis  Hercules  killed 
the  Centaur  Nessus  (this  being  a  counterpart  of  his 
battle  with  the  Centaurs  on  Mount  Pholoe),  who  at- 
tempted to  offer  violence  to  De'ianira  while  carrying 
her  on  his  back  across  the  ford  of  the  river  Evenus. 
The  dying  Centaur  advised  her  to  catch  up  and  take  with 
her  the  blood  streaming  from  his  wound,  saying  that 
it  would  act  as  a  love  charm.  Some  time  later,  hear- 
ing that  after  the  capture  of  Oechalia  Hercules  had  made 
the  beautiful  lole  his  prisoner,  De'ianira  rubbed  this  blood 
upon  a  garment  and  sent  it  by  Lichas  to  her  husband 
on  his  way  home.  Hercules  had  scarcely  put  it  on  before 
the  poison  of  Nessus  pierced  through  his  body.  In  fury 
at  his  torment  he  flung  Lichas  into  the  sea,  but  could 
not  remove  the  garment,  which  clung  to  his  limbs  and 
tore  the  flesh  off  with  it.  De'ianira  killed  herself  in 
pure  desperation;  but  Hercules  charged  his  son  Hyllus 
to  marry  lole,  mounted  a  funeral  pyre  erected  on  the 
summit  of  Mount  Oeta,  and  by  the  gift  of  his  bow  and 
arrows  persuaded  Poeas,  the  father  of  Philoctetes,  or, 
according  to  another  account,  Philoctetes  himself,  to 
apply  the  torch.  Amid  thunder  and  lightning  he  as- 
cended to  heaven,  being  thus  purified  by  fire,  and  became 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  115 

one  of  the  gods.  According  to  a  passage  in  the  Iliad 
there  existed  in  some  places  the  belief  that  Hercules, 
in  obedience  to  a  decree  of  fate,  and  in  consequence 
of  the  wrath  of  Hera,  actually  died  and  was  staying  in 
the  lower  world.  The  same  view  really  prevails  in  the 
Odyssey  also ;  but  in  the  latter  poem  the  idea  of  a  later 
elaborator,  who  was  striving  to  reconcile  the  myths, 
caused  only  the  ghost  of  Hercules  to  appear. 

148.  Taking  him  all  in  all,  Hercules  in  the  later  period 
was  the  ideal  type  of  a  valiant,  noble  Dorian  man ;  and 
in  many  parts  of  these  legends  he  may  be  the  exact 
representative  of  the  Dorian  race  (which  reverenced  him 
especially)  in  its  migrations  and  battles.    Yet  since  many 
other  features  of  his  mythical  history  cause  him  to  be 
recognized  as  an  old  sun  god,  we  may  perhaps  assume 
that,  like  the  gods  of  the  Iliad,  he  first  appeared  in  battle 
fighting  for  his  worshipers,  and  then  gradually  became, 
from  the  protecting  deity,  the  representative  of  the  race, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  type  of  the  Dorian  warrior. 

149.  The  oldest  image  with  the  form  of  which  we  are 
well  acquainted  connected  with  the  worship  of  Hercules 
is  that  of  Erythrae,  where  he,  like  other  heroes,  acted  as 
a  god  of  healing  by  means  of  oracular  dreams.     Accord- 
ing to  coins  upon  which  this  image  is  imitated,  Her- 
cules was  there  represented   as   standing  upon  a  boat, 
without  the  lion's  skin,  a  club  in  his  right  hand,  which 
was  raised ;  in  his  left,  a  spear  (or  stick  ?).     In  other  very 
old  representations  also  he  is   nude;    later  he  appears 
wearing  complete  armor  and  a  short  tight-fitting  cloak. 
At  length,  somewhere  about  600  B.C.,  the  type  with  the 
lion's  skin,  beginning  in  Cyprus  and  Rhodes,  came  to 
predominate,  probably  under  the  influence  of  Phoenician 


116  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

models,  in  imitation  of  Melkart,  the  sun  god  and  king  of 
Tyre,  with  whom  Hercules  was  later  identified  in  many 
respects.  His  hair  and  beard  are  usually  closely  cut;  it 
is  very  rare  that  he  appears  without  a  beard  in  works  of 
the  older  period.  After  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury B.C.  he  is  again  regularly  represented  entirely  nude ; 
he  carries  the  lion's  skin  on  his  left  arm,  his  club  in  his 
right  hand.  Praxiteles  gives  him  a  deeply  sorrowful  ex- 
pression ;  Lysippus,  the  attitude  of  motion,  especially  at 
the  hips.  To  the  latter  sculptor  is  doubtless  to  be  traced 
the  general  type  of  the  weary  Hercules  resting ;  the 
special  form  of  this,  however,  preserved  in  the  so-called 
Tarnese  Hercules'  in  Naples,  was  of  later  origin.  In 
the  representations  of  his  deeds,  Hercules  usually  in 
earlier  works,  as  in  the  story  of  the  Iliad,  carries  a  bow 
as  his  weapon;  more  rarely,  and  indeed  principally  in 
works  of  Ionian  origin,  the  club ;  in  those  originating  in 
the  Peloponnesus,  the  sword,  which,  according  to  the 
Odyssey,  he  carried  in  addition  to  his  bow. 

Hercules :  Homer,  Od.  xi.  601  sq.  ;  Sophocles,  Trachiniae , 
Euripides,  Herakles  ;  Ovid,  Met.  ix.  256  sq.,  Her.  ix. ;  Vergil,  Aen. 
vi.  801  sq. ;  Horace,  Ep.  xvii.  31;  Hygimis,  Fab.  xxx.,  xxxvi.,  clxii.; 
Shak.,  Midsummer  Night's  Dream  iv.  1,  117,  Love's  Labour's  Lost 
i.  2,  69,  v.  2,  592  ;  Pope,  The  Temple  of  Fame  81 :  - 

There  great  Alcides,  stooping  with  his  toil, 
Rests  on  his  club  and  holds  th'  Hesperian  spoil. 

Milton,  Par.  L.  ii.  542. 

Amphitryon :  Ovid,  Her.  ix.  44  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xxix. 

Creon :  Homer,  Od.  xi.  269 ;  Sophocles,  Antigone ;  Chaucer, 
Knight's  Tale  80  sq. 

Hydra:  Ovid,  Met.  ix.  69  sq. ;  Vergil,  Aen.  vi.  287;  Horace, 
Od.  iv.  4,  61 ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xxx. ;  Pope,  Thebais  i.  502  :  — 

The  foaming  Lerna  swells  above  its  bounds, 
And  spreads  its  ancient  poisons  o'er  the  grounds. 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  117 

Geryones :  Ovid,  Her.  ix.  92 ;  Vergil,  Aen.  vii.  662,  viii.  202. 
Hippolyte :   Apollod.     ii.    6,   9 ;   Diodor.   Sic.   iv.   16 ;   Vergil, 
Aen.  xi.  661  ;  Chaucer,  Knight's  Tale  10. 

Hesperides :  Ovid,  Met.  iv.  637  sq. ;  Vergil,  Aen.  iv.  483  sq. ; 
Milton,  Par.  L.  iv.  249  :  — 

Others  whose  fruit  burnisht  with  golden  rind 
Hung  amiable,  Hesperian  fables  true. 

Antaeus  :  Ovid,  Met.  ix.  183  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xxxi. 
Omphale  :  Ovid,  Fast.  ii.  305  sq. ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xxxii. 
Philoctetes :    Sophocles,  Philoctetes ;    Ovid,   Met.  xiii.  329 ; 
Hyginus,  Fab.  cii. 

6.   THESEUS 

150.  The   lonians,  a  trading  people,  who  worshiped 
Poseidon,  had  their  principal  homes  in  Euboea,  the  east- 
ern coast  of  Attica,  and  Argolis,  and  on  the  islands  that 
formed  the  connecting  link  with  the  Ionian  colonies  on 
the  coast  of  Asia  Minor.     They  forced  their  way  into 
Athens  from  the  east  and  south;   therefore  Ion,  their 
mythological  ancestor,  is  really  foreign  to  Athens,  and 
only  through  his  mother,  Creusa,  daughter  of  Erechtheus, 
is  connected  with  the  native  ruling  family  of   Cecrops. 
Of   a  more  primitive  character  than  this  unworshiped 
ancestor  of  the  Ionian  race  is  Theseus,  who,  being  espe- 
cially an  Ionian,  was   developed,  like  Hercules   among 
the  Dorians,  into  the  ideal  Ionian  hero.    His  home,  prop- 
erly, was  Troezen  in  Argolis,  a  city  which  must  probably 
be  regarded  as  a  very  ancient  center  of  the  unification  of 
the  Ionian  race ;  for  the  temple  of  Poseidon  that  served 
as  the  federate  sanctuary  of  an  old  Ionian  Amphictyonic 
league  (sacrificial  confederacy)  was  situated  on  the  island 
Calauria,  which  is  off  the  coast  of  Troezen. 

151.  Sometimes  Poseidon  himself,  and  sometimes  king 
Aegeus  of  Athens,  who  is  only  a  representative  of  this 


118  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

god,  and  owes  his  mythical  existence  to  a  mere  epithet 
(c/.  atyes  =  '  springing  ones '  =  waves),  was  regarded  as 
the  father  of  Theseus.  His  mother  was  Aethra  ('the 
bright,  happy  one ?),  daughter  of  Pittheus,  king  of  Troe- 
zen.  Before  Aegeus  left  her  on  his  return  to  Athens,  he 
hid  his  sword  and  sandals  under  a  heavy  stone,  with  the 
charge  that  his  son  should  be  sent  to  him  as  soon  as  he 
could  lift  it.  When  grown  to  young  manhood,  Theseus, 
taking  the  sword  and  sandals  for  a  countersign,  so  to 
speak,  passed  over  the  isthmus  in  search  of  his  father. 
On  the  way  he  slew  several  robbers :  the  club-brandishing 
Periphetes ;  the  fir-bender,  Sinis ;  Sciron,  who  dwelt  on  a 
steep  pass  by  the  sea;  the  wrestler  Cercyon;  and  the  giant 
Damastes,  who  tortured  strangers  on  a  bed,  and  was  there- 
fore called  Polypemon  ('hurter'),  or  Procrustes  ('stretcher'). 
He  also  overcame  the  wild  sow  of  Cromyon. 

152.  Meanwhile  Aegeus  had  married  the  enchantress 
Medea.     When  Theseus  arrived  in  Athens,  she  wanted 
to  poison  him ;  but  he  was  spared,  his  father  recognizing 
him  by  the  sword  that  he  had  brought.     He  now  smote 
the  gigantic  Pallas  and  his  mighty  sons,  who  rose  against 
Aegeus ;  then  he  bound  the  Cretan  bull,  which  had  been 
released  by  Hercules  and  had  ranged  from  Mycenae  to 
Marathon.      This  adventure,  however,  is   really  only  a 
later  and  secondary  form  of  his  contest  with  the  bull- 
headed  monster  called  the  Minotaur,  the  story  of  which 
is  usually  told  as  follows  :  — 

153.  Androgeos,  a  son  of  king  Minos  of  Crete,  had  been 
slain  by  the  Athenians.     To  atone  for  this  murder  they 
were  compelled  to  send  to  Gnosus,  every  year  for  nine 
years,  seven  boys  and  seven  girls  to  be  devoured  by  the 
Minotaur,  who  was  shut  up  in  a  labyrinth.     Theseus  vol- 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  119 

untarily  went  with,  these  victims.  On  his  arrival  in 
Crete,  Minos's  daughter  Ariadne  fell  in  love  with  him 
and  gave  him  a  ball  of  yarn,  with  the  advice  to  fasten 
the  end  of  it  at  the  entrance  of  the  labyrinth  when  he 
went  in,  that  by  following  the  thread  he  might  retrace 
his  way  out  of  the  countless  interlacing  paths.  The  plan 
was  successful ;  and  after  slaying  the  Minotaur  he  sailed 
away  with  his  companions,  whom  he  had  rescued.  With 
them  he  secretly  took  Ariadne  herself,  and  landed  with 
them  all  either  on  the  neighboring  island  of  Dia,  or  on. 
Naxos.  Here  Ariadne  was  left  behind,  and  according  to 
one  form  of  the  legend,  probably  the  older  one,  was  killed 
by  Artemis,  because  she  had  been  already  previously 
united  in  wedlock  with  Dionysus,  and  had  preferred  a 
mortal  to  him.  According  to  the  version  that  prevailed 
later,  it  was  here  that,  after  Theseus  had  secretly  aban- 
doned her,  she  was  wedded  to  Dionysus,  whose  worship 
was  prominent  on  Naxos. 

154.  On  his  departure  from  Athens  Theseus  had  prom- 
ised his  father  that  in  case  the  undertaking  against  the 
Minotaur  was  successful  he  would  substitute  for  the 
black  mourning  sail  of  his  vessel  a  white  one.  But  he 
forgot  his  promise,  and  Aegeus  on  the  approach  of  the 
ship  cast  himself  down  either  from  a  cliff  of  the  Acropo- 
lis, or  into  the  sea,  which  derived  its  name  ' Aegean7 
from  him.  In  later  times  he  was  reverenced  in  Athens 
as  a  hero. 

Theseus,  to  commemorate  his  prosperous  return,  estab- 
lished the  autumn  festival  of  Pyanepsia  ('  bean  festival '), 
and  that  of  the  grape  gathering,  Oschophoria  ('carrying 
around  of  vine  branches').  As  ruler  he  consolidated 
twelve  individual  communities  into  the  united  state  of 


120  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Athens  at  the  southern  base  of  the  ancient  Acropolis,  an 
event  that  lived  on  in  the  memory  of  the  people  through 
the  celebration  of  the  old  Synoikia  (l  uniting  of  habita- 
tions'), and  probably  gave  him  his  name  Theseus  ='the 
founder.'  (Of.  Orfa-uv  and  rifleVai.) 

155.  Like  Bellerophon,  Hercules,  and  Achilles,  Theseus 
also  fought  against  the  Amazons,  either  as  a  comrade  of 
Hercules,  or  on  the  occasion  of  an  invasion  made  by  the 
Amazons  into  Attica.     At  the  same  time  he  won  the  love 
of  Antiope  or  Hippolyte,  who  had  been  conquered  by  him 
(cf.  Achilles  and  Penthesilea),  married  her,  and   begot 
Hippolytus  ('unyoker  of  horses'),  a  hero  worshiped  in 
Troezen  and  Sparta,  who  probably  was  originally  a  sun 
god.     Afterwards  Phaedra  ('  the   shining  one/  a  moon 
goddess  related  to  Aphrodite),  whom  Theseus  had  married 
after   the   death   of  the  Amazon,  became   enamored   of 
her  chaste  stepson  Hippolytus,  and,  when  her  passion 
was  not  reciprocated  by  him,  brought  about  his  death 
by  falsely  accusing  him  of  making  improper  proposals 
to  her. 

156.  At  Marathon,  which  belonged  to  the  old  Ionian 
tetrapolis  ('four  states')  of  Attica  and  was  the  scene  of 
his  struggle  with  the  bull,  Theseus  met  the  Thessalian 
Pirithous   ('daring   attempter'),  king  of  the   Lapithae, 
and  formed  a  close  friendship  with  him.     Then,  as  we 
read  in  the  Iliad  (though  the  passage  is  much  disputed), 
on  the  occasion  of  his  friend's  marriage  to  Hippodamia, 
or  Deidamia,  Theseus  fought  beside  him  against  the  wild 
Centaurs  of  Mount  Pelion.,  as  in  their  drunkenness  they 
laid  wanton  hands  on  the  women.    This  scene  frequently 
appears  in  the  art  of  the  first  half  of  the  fifth  century  B.C., 
notably  in  the  metopes  of  the  Parthenon,  and  in  the  group 


GREEK  HEROES  121 

designed  by  Alcamenes  in  the  western  pediment  of  the 
Temple  of  Zeus  at  Olympia.  But  in  the  earlier  works, 
from  the  seventh  century  B.C.  on,  Hercules  is  the  regular 
opponent  of  the  Centaurs.  Together  with  Pirithotis, 
Theseus  then  carried  off  the  youthful  Helen  from  Sparta, 
and  brought  her  to  the  mountain  stronghold  Aphidnae  in 
northern  Attica,  from  which  she  was  afterwards  released 
by  her  brothers,  the  Dioscuri.  Meanwhile  Theseus  (prob- 
ably, according  to  the  older  idea,  at  Hermione)  went 
down  into  the  lower  world  with  his  friend  to  steal  Per- 
sephone for  him.  Both  of  them  grew  fast  to  a  rock  at 
the  entrance,  but  Theseus  was  afterwards  released  by 
Hercules. 

157.  During  the  absence  of  Theseus,  Menestheus,  who 
in  the  Iliad  is  leader  of  the  Athenians,  had  usurped  the 
power  at  Athens.    Theseus  was  therefore  compelled,  soon 
after  his  return  from  the  lower  world,  to  leave  the  city 
again.    He  went  to  the  island  Scyros,  and  was  there  treach- 
erously cast  into  the  sea  by  king  Lycomedes.    Later,  how- 
ever, Demophoon  and  Acamas,  sons  of  Phaedra,  gained 
the  dominion  in  Athens.     The  bones  of  Theseus,  which, 
it  was  claimed,  had  been  miraculously  discovered,  were 
brought  to  Athens  from  Scyros  in  the  year  468  B.C.,  and 
interred    in    a    newly    erected    sanctuary    between    the 
gymnasium    of    Ptolemaeus    and    the    Anakeion.      His 
real   worship   at   Athens    began   after   the    opening    of 
the  fifth  century  B.C.,  when  the  Ionian  democracy  came 
into  power. 

158.  In  art  Theseus  was  represented  perhaps  even  as 
early  as  the  eighth  or  the  seventh  century  B.C.  in  battle 
with  the  Minotaur,  or  standing  near  Ariadne.     In  works 
of  the  sixth  century  the  contests  with  the  bull  and  the 


122  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Amazons  appear,  as  well  as  the  rape  of  Helen.  None  of 
the  other  adventures  is  to  be  found  until  the  fifth  cen- 
tury B.C.  In  the  oldest  representations  his  weapon  is 
the  sword,  and  in  dress  and  bodily  frame  he  is  still  un- 
distinguished from  other  heroes.  Later,  in  imitation  of 
the  Hercules  type,  he  usually  carries  a  club  and  often  a 
beast's  skin ;  but  he  is  distinguished  by  the  headdress 
of  youth  and  by  being  more  slender. 

Doubtless  Theseus  is  a  personality  originally  related 
to  the  Boeotian-Argive-Thessalian  (Dorian)  Hercules ; 
but  his  form  has  been  perfected  to  correspond  to  the 
Ionian  ideal  of  a  hero.  Like  Hercules,  he  has  many  char- 
acteristics of  an  old  sun  god ;  it  being  especially  common 
that  such  divinities,  as  in  this  case,  were  considered  the 
founders  of  communities  of  a  race  or  a  city. 

Cecrops  :  Ovid,  Met.  ii.  555 ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xlviii. 

Theseus  :  Ovid,  Met.  vii.  404  sg.,  East.  iii.  473 ;  Hyginus, 
Fab.  xxxviii.,  xlii.,  xliii. ;  Chaucer,  Knight's  Tale  2,  et  passim. 

Aethra  :  Ovid,  Her.  x.  131 ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xxxvii. 

Medea :  Euripides,  Medea;  Ovid,  Met.  vii.  11  sq.,  Her.  xii.,  xvi. 
229 ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xxv.,  xxvi.,  xxvii. ;  Shak.,  Merchant  of  Venice 
v.  1, 13 ;  King  Henry  VI.  pt.  ii.  v.  2,  59 ;  Chaucer,  Knight's  Tale  1086. 

Hippolytus  :  Euripides,  Hippolytus  ;  Ovid,  Fast.  iii.  265  ;  Ver- 
gil, Aen.  vii.  761  sq.;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xlvii. ;  Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  v.  39. 

Pirithous  :  Homer,  II.  i.  263,  xiv.  317  ;  Ovid,  Met.  xii.  218. 

Hippodamia  (daughter  of  Atrax)  :  Ovid,  Met.  xii.  210  sq. 


CYCLES  OF  MYTHS 
1.  MELEAGER  AND  THE  CALYDONIAN  HUNT 

159.  Meleager,  the  son  of  Oeneus,  of  Calydon,  and  Al- 
thaea, was  a  mighty  hunter.  With  many  companions  he 
laid  low  a  terrible  wild  boar  sent  by  Artemis,  which  was 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  123 

ravaging  the  fields.  But  in  a  quarrel  that  arose  out 
of  the  award  of  the  prize  of  victory  he  slew  a  brother 
of  his  mother.  She  besought  the  gods  of  the  lower 
world  to  avenge  the  murder  on  her  son.  Soon  after- 
wards he  fell  in  battle.  The  post-Homeric  poets  add  that 
the  Moerae  had  informed  his  mother  soon  after  his  birth 
that  her  son  would  live  only  until  a  piece  of  wood  then 
glowing  on  the  hearth  should  be  consumed  by  the  fire ; 
whereupon  she  quickly  quenched  it  and  saved  it ;  but 
after  the  murder  of  her  brother  she  caused  the  death  of 
her  son  by  burning  the  stick. 

160.  Another  later  addition  to  the  myth  was  that  the 
shy  Arcadian-Boeotian  huntress  Atalanta,  who  is  closely 
akin  to  Artemis,  the  hunting  goddess,  was  associated  with 
Meleager.  In  consequence  of  his  love  for  her  he  promised 
her  the  head  of  the  boar  as  a  prize  of  honor,  because  she 
had  been  the  first  to  wound  the  animal;  thus  he  fell 
into  the  quarrel  with  his  uncle  and  met  his  death,  as 
told  above.  But  Atalanta  would  have  for  her  husband 
only  one  that  could  defeat  her  in  a  foot  race,  the  con- 
dition being  that  all  defeated  suitors  should  be  put  to 
death.  Milanion  (according  to  another  version,  Hip- 
pomenes)  received  from  Aphrodite  three  golden  apples, 
which  at  her  advice  he  flung  before  Atalanta  during 
the  race.  While  she  was  picking  them  up  he  reached 
the  goal  before  her,  and  so  she  was  compelled  to  become 
his  wife. 

Althaea  :  Ovid,  Met.  viii.  446  sq.  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  clxxi. 

Meleager:  Homer,  II.  ix.  543  sq.  ;  Ovid,  Met.  viii.  270  sq. ; 
Hyginus,  Fab.  clxxiv. ;  Chaucer,  Knight's  Tale  1213. 

Atalanta  :  Ovid,  Met.  x.  565  sg.,  Ars  Amat.  iii.  775 ;  Hyginus, 
Fab.  clxxxv.  ;  Chaucer,  Knight's  Tale  1212. 


124  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

2.   THE  ARGONAUTS 

161.  The  myth  of  the  Argonauts  unites  the  legends  of 
the  Thessalian  city  lolcus  and  the  Boeotian  Orchomenus, 
both  of  which  were  inhabited  by  the  old  race  of  the 
Minyae,  with  those  of  Corinth,  which  from  the  earliest 
times  had  been  closely  connected  with  the  far  east  by 
navigation ;    and   this    union   is   so   complete,   probably 
under  the  influence  of  the  Ionian  epic  poets,  that  the  real 
basis  of  the  myth  can  no  longer  be  ascertained  with  cer- 
tainty,    lolcus  was  the  home  of  Jason,  the  leader  of  the 
Argonauts.     He  was  the  son  of  Aeson,  but  was  under 
the  guardianship  of  his  uncle  Pelias,  and,  like  Achilles, 
Aesculapius,  and  Hercules,  was  brought  up  on  the  neigh- 
boring Pelion  by  the  Centaur  Chiron  and  instructed  in 
medical  science.     During  his  absence  Pelias,  as  Pindar 
sings  in  his  fourth  Pythian  'ode  of  victory/  had  been 
given  the  following  oracle :  "  That  in  every  way  he  should 
keep  careful  guard  against  the  man  of  one  sandal,  whenever 
from  the  steep  pastures  to  the  sunny  land  of  renowned  lol- 
cus he  shall  come,  be  he  stranger  or  native  "  (vv.  75-78). 

As  Jason  on  his  return  homeward  had  lost  a  shoe 
in  crossing  the  river  Anaurus,  Pelias  feared  that  by  him 
he  should  be  robbed  of  his  power,  and  therefore  sent  him 
on  an  expedition  to  bring  the  golden  fleece  from  Aea,  the 
land  of  Aeetes,  in  the  hope  that  the  youth  would  perish 
in  the  attempt.  Jason  collected  a  large  band  of  heroes, 
built  the  first  large  ship,  the  Argo  ('  the  swift 7),  under 
the  protection  of  Hera  overcame  all  the  dangers  threaten- 
ing him,  and  after  his  return  ruled  in  lolcus,  wedded  to 
Medea,  the  daughter  of  Aeetes. 

162.  For  Medea  persuaded  the  daughters  of  Pelias  to 
kill  their  own  father,  and  promised  to  bring  him  to  life 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  125 

again  and  to  renew  his  youth,  but  did  not  fulfill  her  word. 
According  to  the  later  version  of  the  legend,  which  com- 
bines its  individual  features  in  a  confused  manner,  she 
then  fled  with  Jason  before  Pelias's  son  Acastus  to  Cor- 
inth, while  magnificent  funeral  games  were  celebrated 
in  honor  of  the  murdered  man.  Alcestis  was  the  only 
daughter  of  Pelias  that  took  no  part  in  the  murder  of  her 
father.  She  afterwards  voluntarily  died  for  her  husband 
Admetus,  the  king  of  Pherae,  since  according  to  the  will 
of  the  Moerae  he  could  be  saved  by  the  sacrificial  death  of 
another.  She  was  then  brought  back  from  the  realm  of 
death  by  Hercules. 

163.  The  myth  of  the  golden  fleece  seems  to  have 
developed  principally  in  Orchomenus.  King  Athamas, 
who  of  course  is  closely  related  to  the  Athamantian 
plains  near  Halos  in  the  Thessalian  Phthiotis,  had  from 
Nephele  ('  cloud ')  the  children  Phrixus  and  Helle.  When 
his  second  wife  Ino  instigated  him  to  sacrifice  Phrixus  to 
Zeus  Laphystios,  to  remove  the  unfruitf  nines s  of  the  land, 
Nephele  carried  off  her  children  through  the  air  upon  a 
golden-fleeced  ram  furnished  her  by  Hermes.  On  the  way 
Helle  fell  into  the  arm  of  the  sea  named  after  her  (Helles- 
pont), while  Phrixus  successfully  reached  Aea,  the  land 
of  the  light  of  sunrise  and  sunset,  which  was  located 
sometimes  in  the  east  and  sometimes  in  the  west.  He 
there  offered  the  ram  in  his  stead  to  Zeus  Lapliystios,  and 
hung  up  its  golden  fleece  in  the  grove  of  Ares,  where  it 
was  guarded  by  a  dragon.  In  this  part  of  the  myth  a 
process  of  nature  is  symbolized,  the  carrying  away  of  a 
rain  cloud  gilded  by  the  sun,  which  is  also  at  other  times 
thought  of  as  a  shaggy  pelt,  being  thus  picturesquely 
expressed.  On  the  other  hand,  the  story  of  the  offering 


126  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

and  rescue  of  Phrixus  may  have  originated  in  the  wor- 
ship of  Zeus  Laphystios,  where  for  the  sacrifice  of  a 
human  being  that  of  a  ram  may  have  been  afterwards 
substituted,  a  process  such  as  may  lie  at  the  foundation  of 
the  legend  of  Iphigenia.  The  story  relating  to  Helle  was 
perhaps  added  only  to  explain  the  name  Hellespont. 

164.  The  Medea  myth  and  the  further  development 
of   the   expedition   of   the   Argonauts   is   of   Corinthian 
origin ;  for  their  goal  is  designated  as  the  eastern  land 
Colchis,  well  known  to  the  Corinthian  navigators.     More- 
over, Aeetes,  the  son  of  Helios  and  Persa,  while  he  is  a 
personality  that  surely  originated  in  an  epithet  of  the 
sun  god,  is  generally  considered  to  have  been  a  ruler  of 
Corinth,  on  whose  citadel,  Ephyra  or  Acrocorinth,  Helios 
himself  had  one  of  the  chief  seats  of  his  worship,  and 
afterwards  to  have  emigrated  to  Colchis.     When  Jason 
demanded  from  him  the  golden  fleece,  Aeetes  declared 
himself  ready  to  comply  if  he  would  first  yoke  two  fire- 
breathing  bulls  with  brazen  feet  and  with  them  plow  the 
field  of  Ares.     Medea,  who  was  inflamed  with  love  for 
the  stranger,  protected  him  from  the  effect  of  the  fire 
by  a  magic  ointment,  and  helped  him  to  overpower  the 
dragon  which  was  guarding  the  fleece. 

165.  Then  with  the  Argonauts  she  embarked  in  the 
ship,  at  the  same  time  carrying  off  her  young  brother 
Apsyrtus.     When  pursued  by  Aeetes,  she  killed  the  boy 
and  flung  his  limbs  one  by  one  into  the  sea,  that  her 
father  might  be  retarded  by  the  search  for  them.    After 
an  adventurous  voyage,  which  later  forms  of  the  legend, 
with  the  widening   of   geographical   knowledge   toward 
the  north  and  west,  constantly  extended  further,  they 
reached   Corinth    (or   returned   to    lolcus),  where   they 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  127 

obtained  the  kingdom.  When  Jason  afterwards  divorced 
Medea  to  wed  the  daughter  of  king  Creon,  Medea  killed 
Creon  and  all  his  daughters  by  means  of  a  magic  poi- 
soned garment.  Then,  after  murdering  both  of  her  own 
children,  she  fled  to  Athens  in  a  chariot  drawn  by  drag- 
ons, where  she  married  Aegeus.  In  consequence  of  her 
unsuccessful  murderous  attack  upon  Theseus  she  returned 
to  her  home  in  Asia. 

Medea  is  the  mythical  prototype  of  all  witches,  who 
were  similarly  charged  with  murdering  children ;  but  at 
the  same  time  she  is  so  closely  related  to  the  moon  god- 
desses Hecate  and  Hera  that  she  must  herself  be  re- 
garded as  a  moon  heroine.  Jason,  however,  may  be  a 
figure  resembling  the  Boeotian  Cadmus,  and  may  have 
received  his  name  from  'lawA/cos,  lolcus. 

166.  To  this,  the  simplest  form  of  the  myth  of  the 
Argonauts,  was  by  degrees  added  a  whole  series  of  local 
legends  and  sailors'  tales,  and  an  ever-increasing  number 
of  heroes  were  mentioned  as  having  joined  in  the  expe- 
dition. It  was  said  that  at  Chalcedon,  on  the  Bosporus, 
Pollux  had  defeated  in  a  boxing  contest  the  giant  Amycus 
('  tearer '),  who  had  prevented  the  navigators  from  gain- 
ing access  to  a  spring.  On  the  other  side  of  the  Bos- 
porus the  Argonauts  met  the  blind  king  Phmeus,  who 
was  tormented  by  Harpies.  As  soon  as  he  sat  down  to 
eat,  the  Harpies  came  along  and  seized  or  befouled  the 
food.  They  were  therefore  pursued  by  Zetes  and  Calais, 
the  sons  of  Boreas,  and  driven  away  forever  (c/.  the 
Stymphalides).  To  express  his  gratitude  for  this  ser- 
vice, Phineus  told  his  rescuers  how  to  avoid  the  further 
dangers  of  the  voyage,  particularly  how  to  pass  success- 
fully the  rocks  of  the  Symplegades  (<  striking  together  ?); 


128  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

which  crushed  ships  between  them.  These  rocks,  which 
can  still  be  distinguished  at  the  entrance  of  the  Bos- 
porus, were  said  to  be  floating  islands,  which  were  after- 
wards fixed  in  their  present  position.  In  the  adventure 
in  Colchis  itself  the  sowing  of  the  dragon's  teeth  by  Cad- 
mus (c/.  §  123)  was  transferred  to  Jason. 

Argo ;  Argonauts :  Pindar,  Pyth.  iv. ;  Vergil,  Eel.  iv.  34 :  — 
Vehat  Argo  |  delectos  heroas. 

Ovid,  Amor.  ii.  11,  6,  Her.  xii.  9;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xiv.-xxi. ;  Milton, 

Par.  L.  ii.  1017 :  - 

And  more  endanger'd,  than  when  Argo  pass'd 
Through  Bosporus  betwixt  the  justling  rocks. 

Pope,  Ode  on  St.  Cecilia's  Day  40 :  — 

While  Argo  saw  her  kindred  trees 
Descend  from  Pelion  to  the  main. 

Apollon.  Rhod.,  Argonautica. 

Jason :  Apollod.  i.  9,  16 ;  Ovid,  Met.  vii.  5  sq.,  Epis.  xvi.  229 ; 
Hyginus,  Fab.  xxii. ,  xxiii. ,  xxiv. 

Aeson  :  Ovid,  Met.  vii.  162  sq. ;  Pope,  Dunciad  iv.  121 :  — 
As  erst  Medea  (cruel  so  to  save ! ) 
A  new  edition  of  old  Aeson  gave. 

Cowper,  Translation  from  Milton  ii.  10 :  — 

Aeson-like  to  know  a  second  prime. 

Pelias :  Ovid,  Met.  vii.  298  sq. ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xii. 

Aeetes  :  Ovid,  Met.  vii.  9  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xxii. 

Alcestis :  Euripides,  Alcestis ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  1.,  Ii. 

Admetus:  Euripides,  Alcestis;  Ovid,  Ex  Pont.  iii.  1,  106, 
Trist.  v.  14,  37 ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  L,  Ii. 

Phrixus;  Helle:  Ovid,  Epis.  xvii.  141  sq.,  Fast.  iii.  852  sq. ; 
Hyginus,  Fab.  i.,  ii.,  iii. 

Apsyrtus:  Ovid,  Trist.  iii.  9,  6;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xxiii. 

Fhineus :  Ovid,  Met.  v.  8  sq. ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xix. 

3.   THE  THEBAN  CYCLE 

167.  In  the  myths  that  are  brought  together  in  the 
Theban  cycle  there  appears  this  pervading  thought,  that 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  129 

man  is  not  able,  either  by  wisdom  or  by  strength,  to 
carry  out  his  own  plans  in  opposition  to  the  will  and 
predestination  of  the  gods.  On  the  contrary,  the  very 
prudence  that  strives  to  render  of  none  effect  such  de- 
crees of  the  gods  as  have  been  announced  by  oracles  or 
other  signs  helps  to  fulfill  the  divine  will.  This  appears 
most  simply  in  the  oldest  part  of  the  cycle,  the  expedi- 
tion of  the  Seven  against  Thebes,  described  in  the 
Thebais.  A  later  counterpart  is  the  expedition  of  the 
Epigoni  ('  the  after-born 7) ;  and  the  same  thought  is 
brought  out  in  a  more  complicated  manner  in  the  Oedi- 
pus myth,  which  contains  the  preliminary  history  of 
this  contest,  and  which  Cinaethon  of  Sparta  (?)  had 
used  in  his  Oidipodeta.  Finally,  the  Alkmaionis,  a  sequel 
to  the  story  of  the  Epigoni,  and  a  work  belonging  to  the 
end  of  the  sixth  century  B.C.,  described  the  tremendous 
punishments  inflicted  by  the  gods  in  avenging  the  murder 
of  relatives.  In  the  extant  Thebais  of  the  Roman  poet 
Statius  the  principal  ideas  of  all  these  lost  epics  are 
combined.  But  this  group  of  myths  is  still  further  per- 
fected from  the  purely  moral  point  of  view  in  the  Attic 
tragedy,  and  is  represented  in  the  following  extant 
plays :  the  '  Seven  against  Thebes ;  of  Aeschylus,  the 
'Oedipus  Tyrannus/  ' Oedipus  at  Colonus/  and  ' An- 
tigone7 of  Sophocles,  the  'Phoenissae'  of  Euripides. 

168.  According  to  a  divine  decree  Laius,  the  son  of 
Labdacus,  was  to  be  the  last  of  the  family  of  Cadmus 
who  should  be  king  of  Thebes.  Therefore  he  received 
from  the  oracle  at  Delphi  the  utterance :  " If  thou  beget 
a  son,  he  will  murder  thee  and  marry  his  own  mother." 
So  when  his  wife  locaste,  whom  the  epic  poets  called 
Epicaste,  the  sister  of  Creon,  the  last  of  the  Sparti, 


130  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

bore  him  a  son,  Lams  pierced  his  feet,  bound  them 
together,  and  caused  him  to  be  exposed  on  the  neigh- 
boring mountain  Cithaeron,  that  thus  by  killing  his 
child  he  might  render  impossible  the  fulfillment  of  the 
oracle.  But  the  child  was  discovered  by  a  shepherd, 
brought  to  king  Polybus  at  Sicyon  or  Corinth,  and  by 
him  named  Oedipus  (4  swollen-footed ').  When  the  boy 
had  grown  up,  being  taunted  about  his  parentage,  he 
asked  the  oracle  at  Delphi  to  reveal  to  him  his  real 
origin,  but  received  as  answer  only  the  ominous  response, 
that  he  must  become  guilty  of  incest  with  his  mother, 
and  kill  his  father.  In  order  to  make  the  threat  ineffec- 
tive, he  did  not  return  to  Corinth;  yet  even  before  he 
had  gone  far  from  Delphi  he  met  his  father  Laius  at 
a  fork  in  the  road,  and  being  provoked  by  him,  killed 
him  without  being  aware  who  he  was. 

169.  Meanwhile  Thebes  had  been  visited  with  a  severe 
scourge.  The  Sphinx  ('throttler ?),  a  monster,  the  upper 
part  of  whose  body  was  a  winged  maiden,  and  the  lower 
part  that  of  a  lion  (probably,  like  the  "nightmare,"  a 
creature  born  of  "such  stuff  as  dreams  are  made  of," 
though  afterwards  it  was  thoroughly  confused  with  the 
similarly  formed  Egyptian-Babylonian  symbol  of  power 
and  swiftness),  dwelt  upon  a  mountain  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  city  and  submitted  to  passers-by  this  riddle :  "  What 
walks  in  the  morning  on  four  legs,  at  midday  on  two,  and 
at  evening  on  three  ?  "  She  had  killed  all  that  had  not 
guessed  it,  among  them,  according  to  an  older  legend, 
Haemon,  the  son  of  Creon,  who  after  the  death  of  his 
brother-in-law  Laius  ruled  in  Thebes.  Creon  now  offered 
as  a  reward  to  anybody  freeing  them  from  this  scourge 
the  hand  of  the  queen  and  the  sovereignty  of  Thebes. 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  131 

Oedipus  correctly  solved  the  riddle  as  referring  to  man, 
who  creeps  on  all  fours  when  a  child,  walks  upright  in 
middle  life,  and  uses  the  support  of  a  staff  in  old  age. 

170.  Oedipus  accordingly  became  king  in  his  native 
city,  and,  at  the  same  time,  his  mother's  husband.     Ac- 
cording to  the  epic  poets  the  gods  soon  made  this  crime 
known,  probably  through  the  seer  Tiresias,  as  the  later 
form  of  the  legend  states.     Epicaste  killed  herself  and 
Oedipus  blinded  himself.    Afterwards,  by  a  second  wife, 
Eurygania,  he  had  the  sons  Eteocles  and  Polynices,  and 
the  two  daughters  Antigone  and  Ismene.      The   tragic 
poets  mention  no  second  marriage  of  Oedipus,  but  rather 
treat  all  these  as  the  children  of  locaste  herself. 

Later,  on  account  of  some  trifling  fault,  Oedipus  brought 
upon  his  sons  the  curse  that  they  should  divide  the  inher- 
itance by  the  edge  of  the  sword.  He  himself  then  died 
in  Thebes,  or,  according  to  the  Attic  version,  in  banish- 
ment in  the  sanctuary  of  the  Semnai  at  Colonus,  near 
Athens,  under  the  protection  of  Theseus. 

171.  Eteocles  and  Polynices  fell  into  a  quarrel  in  divid- 
ing the  inheritance  and  the  power ;  whereupon  the  latter 
fled  to  Adrastus,  king  of  Argos  and  Sicyon,  and  became 
his  son-in-law.     He  then  equipped  an  expedition  against 
his  brother,  of  which  Adrastus  undertook  the  command. 
Polynices  was  further  supported  by  his  brother-in-law, 
the  Aetolian  Tydeus,  a  fiery  son  of  Oeneus  of  Calydon ; 
also  by  Hippomedon  and  Parthenopaeus,  the  brothers  of 
Adrastus ;  by  the  mighty  Capaneus ;  and  lastly  by  the 
courageous  seer  Amphiaraus,  brother-in-law  of  Adrastus. 
Amphiaraus,  indeed,  foresaw  that  they  should  almost  all 
perish  in  the  expedition,  but  was  nevertheless  induced  to 
take  part  in  it  by  his  wife  Eriphyle,  who  had  been  bribed 


132  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

by  means  of  a  beautiful  necklace,  which,  however,  brought 
ruin  to  its  possessor.  Therefore  he  charged  his  son 
Alcmaeon  ('  the  strong ')  that  as  soon  as  he  grew  up  he 
should  take  revenge  upon  her  for  his  death. 

172.  In  spite  of  omens,  which  predicted  all  sorts  of 
evil,  the  Seven,  trusting  in  their  own  power,  advanced 
against  Thebes  and  assaulted  the  seven  gates  of  the  city. 
Capaneus  had  already  scaled  the  walls,  when  a  bolt  from 
the  hand  of  Zeus  dashed  him   down   again.     The  two 
brothers  Eteocles  and  Polynices  killed  each  other  in  single 
combat,  yet  the  fight  continued  to  rage  with  fearful  fury. 
Tydeus,  even  in  the  throes  of  death,  lacerated  with  his 
teeth  the  head  of  his  fallen  antagonist  and  sipped  the 
brains  out  of  the  gaping  skull.     Amphiaratis  was  buried 
alive  with  his  chariot  close  by  Thebes  in  a  chasm  in  the 
ground,  which  Zeus  opened  in  front  of  him  by  a  thunder- 
bolt.    Here  he  ruled  as  a  spirit  giving  out  oracles  by 
means  of  dreams.     He  was  greatly  revered  also  in  other 
places,  especially  at  Oropus  in  the  district  of  Psaphis ; 
but  originally  he  was  none  other  than  Hades  himself, 
invoked  under  the  name  of  'the  besought  on  every  side.' 

173.  Adrastus,  saved  by  his  swift  war  horse  Arion,  was 
the  only  one  of  the  seven  to  escape.     The  Thebans  were 
persuaded  by  him,  or,  according  to  the  Attic  version  of 
the  story,  were  compelled  by  Theseus,  to  deliver  up  the 
fallen  for  burial.     Aeschylus  and  Sophocles  add  at  this 
point  the  story  of  Antigone's  fate.     According  to  them 
Polynices  was  to  remain  unburied  as  an  enemy  to  his 
native  land.     But  his  sister  Antigone,  contrary  to  this 
command,  dragged  him  upon  the  funeral  pyre  of  Eteo- 
cles, or  at  least  covered  him  with  earth.     She  was  seized 
by  the  appointed  watchers  and  punished  by  death  for 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  133 

this  deed,  which  was  nevertheless  called  for  by  sisterly 
love  and  divine  law. 

174.  Ten  years  later  the  sons  of  the  fallen  heroes  (the 
Epigoni),  now  led  by  the  favor  of  the  gods,  marched 
against  Thebes,  took  it  and  demolished  it,  and  set  over  it 
as  ruler  Thersander,  the  son  of  Polynices.  The  whole 
expedition,  however,  is  described  by  the  later  poets  as  a 
counterpart  of  the  former  one.  Alcmaeon,  the  leader  of 
the  host,  before  setting  out  fulfilled  the  command  of  his 
father  by  murdering  his  mother  to  avenge  him.  But 
although  Apollo  himself  had  given  his  consent  to  this, 
the  murderer,  like  Orestes,  was  pursued  by  the  Erinyes 
until  after  long  wanderings  he  finally  obtained  rest  through 
a.  new  oracular  response. 

locaste :  Homer,  Od.  xi.  271  sq. ;  Sophocles,  Antigone  861, 
Oedipus  Rex  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  Ixvi.,  Ixvii. 

Oedipus :  Homer,  Od.  xi.  271 ;  Sophocles,  Oedipus  Rex,  Oedipus 
at  Colonus,  Antigone ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  Ixvi. ;  Pope,  Thebais  i.  21 :  — 

At  Oedipus  —  from  his  disasters  trace 
The  long  confusions  of  his  guilty  race ; 

Thebais  i.  69  :  — 

Now  wretched  Oedipus,  depriv'd  of  sight 
Leads  a  long  death  in  everlasting  night ; 

Thebais  i.  336  :  - 

His  sons  with  scorn  their  eyeless  father  view. 

Eteocles  :  Hyginus,  Fab.  Ixvii. ;  Sophocles,  Antigone  ;  Aeschy- 
lus, Seven  against  Thebes  182  sq. ;  Pope,  Thebais  i.  219. 

Polynices  :  Sophocles,  Oedipus  at  Colonus,  Antigone ;  Hyginus, 
Fab.  Ixvii.-lxxii. 

Antigone :  Aeschylus,  Seven  against  Thebes  862 ;  Sophocles, 
Antigone,  Oedipus  Rex,  Oedipus  at  Colonus ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  Ixxii. 

Amphiaraiis :  Aeschylus,  Seven  against  Thebes  569  sq. ;  Ovid, 
Ex  Pont.  iii.  1,  52:  — 

Notus  humo  mersis  Amphiaraiis  equis. 
Hyginus,  Fab.  Ixxiii, 


134  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

4.    THE  ACHAIAN-TKOJAN  CYCLE 

175.  A   part   of   the   Achaians   once    emigrated   from 
Thessaly  to  Argolis.      Some   of  them   were   forced   by 
the  Dorians  into  Achaia,  and  afterwards  settled  lower 
Italy.    Others  went  to  Asia  Minor,  and  there  in  company 
with  the  Achaians  of  Thessaly,  who  migrated  thither 
at  the  same  time,  obtained  by  conquest  new  homes  in 
the  vicinity  of  Troy,  which  was  then  lying  in  ruins.     It 
was  probably  the  effort  to  explain  the  origin  of  these 
ruins,  which  went  back  to  a  prehistoric  period,  that  caused 
the  migrating  Grecian  tribes  to  connect  them  with  old 
myths  of  their  own  people.     Taking  their  idea  from  the 
conquest  of  this  same  land,  which  they  had  just  made  an 
accomplished  fact,  they  fancied  the  destruction  of  Ilios- 
Troia  to  have  been  the  result  of  a  campaign  of  their  own 
ancestors. 

176.  This  whole  legendary  subject-matter  was  treated  in 
the  following  independent  epics,  which  group  themselves 
round  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey :    (1)  The  Cypria,  by  a 
Cyprian  poet,  perhaps  Stasinus ;  a  work  originating  after 
the  completion  of  the  interpolated  additions  to  the  Iliad. 

(2)  The  Iliad  of  Homer,  who  may  have  lived  about  850  B.C. 

(3)  The  Aithiopis  of  Arctinus  of  Miletus,  written  perhaps 
about  750  B.C.      (4)  The  <  Little  Iliad7  of  the  Lesbian 
Lesches,  of  the  first  half   of  the  seventh  century  B.C. 
(5)  The    '  Destruction   of   Ilios'    (IXtbv   Wpo-ts),   also  by 
Arctinus.      (6)  The  '  Homeward  Voyages  '  (Noo-rot),  by 
Agias  of  Troezen,  later  than  Arctinus  and  the  Odyssey. 

(7)  The  Odyssey,  to  be  dated  somewhere  about  775  B.C. 

(8)  The  Telegonia,  by  Eugammon  of  Cyrene,  about  570  B.C. 

177.  Of  the  foregoing,  aside  from  fragments  and  mea- 
gre excerpts,  only  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey  are  extant. 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  135 

These  were  recognized  by  the  ancients  themselves  as  the 
most  noble  gems  in  the  crown  of  epic  poetry.  Both  of 
them  were  in  earlier  times  ascribed  to  the  poetic  genius 
of  one  man,  Homer,  who  surpassed  all  others ;  but  the 
great  dissimilarity  that  appears  in  the  social  relations 
and  the  religious  conceptions  described  forces  us  to  con- 
clude that  the  two  poems  must  be  attributed  to  different 
authors,  at  least  in  their  present  form.  Seven  cities 
claimed  Homer  as  their  citizen.  Smyrna,  the  first  men- 
tioned of  these,  seems  to  have  the  best  right  to  the  claim, 
for  it  appears  from  the  Iliad  itself  that  the  poet  probably 
came  from  the  region  near  the  mouth  of  the  river  Hermus. 
In  its  original  form  the  poem  described  only  the  momen- 
tous quarrel  between  Achilles  and  Agamemnon.  But 
into  this  oldest  epic,  which  formed  the  foundation  of  the 
whole  Trojan  chain  of  myths  and  contains  the  germ  of 
all  other  poems  on  the  subject,  there  were  certainly  intro- 
duced at  a  later  period  many  kinds  of  interpolations,  and 
at  the  same  time  the  whole  was  probably  revised;  yet 
even  in  its  present  form  the  dramatic  plot  which  lies  at 
its  foundation  is  so  plainly  visible  that  there  can  be  no 
doubt  of  its  conscious  formation  by  one  individual  poet. 
178.  The  keynote  of  the  drama  of  the  Iliad  is  struck 
by  a  description  of  the  plague  brought  upon  the  Grecian 
host  by  Apollo,  on  account  of  an  injury  done  to  his  priest 
Chryses  in  the  tenth  year  of  the  siege  of  Troy.  Just 
as  in  the  progress  of  the  chief  plot  the  haughtiness  of 
the  commander  in  chief,  Agamemnon,  is  to  blame  for  the 
grievous  losses  and  defeats  of  the  Greeks,  so  here  he 
has  caused  this  wrath  of  Apollo  by  refusing  to  listen  to 
the  request  of  one  of  his  priests  for  the  restoration  of 
a  daughter  who  has  been  carried  away  among  the  spoils 


136        GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

of  war.  At  this  point  comes  in  the  dramatic  ' motive7: 
Achilles  (Gk.  Achilleus),  the  noblest  champion  in  the 
Grecian  camp,  in  the  name  of  the  army,  which  has  been 
victorious  up  to  this  time,  demands  from  Agamemnon 
that  he  surrender  this  maiden  Chrysei's.  The  plot  deepens 
as  follows:  Agamemnon  indeed  grants  the  request,  but 
in  compensation  for  his  own  loss,  takes  away  from  Achil- 
les the  girl  Briseis,  who  has  been  given  to  him  as  a 
present  by  the  army.  Thereupon  Achilles  in  anger  with- 
draws from  battle,  and  at  his  request  his  mother  Thetis 
prays  Zeus,  the  disposer  of  battle,  to  grant  victory  to 
the  Trojans  until  her  son  shall  have  received  full  satis- 
faction. 

179.  In  Books  ii.-vii.  comes  the  first  climax,  in  a  sub- 
sidiary plot.  First  Agamemnon  tries  to  bring  about  an 
end  of  the  war,  without  Achilles,  by  a  single  combat 
between  Paris,  who  carried  off  Helen,  and  her  rightful 
husband  Menelatis.  Paris,  being  vanquished,  is  rescued 
by  Aphrodite,  but  the  treaty  is  immediately  broken 
by  a  treacherous  shot  of  the  Trojan  Pandarus.  Now 
the  Achaians  advance,  and  Diomedes,  the  son  of  Tydeus 
and  ruler  of  Argos,  who  is  under  the  special  protection 
of  Athena,  and  Ajax,  the  son  of  Telamon  of  Salamis,  next 
to  Achilles  the  most  valiant  of  the  Grecian  heroes,  distin- 
guish themselves  in  single  combats.  As  Agamemnon 
already  fancies  that  he  has  nearly  won  the  victory  over 
Troy,  and  at  the  same  time  over  his  rival  Achilles,  Zeus, 
out  of  regard  for  his  promise  made  to  Thetis,  forbids  the 
gods  to  take  any  further  part  in  the  struggle.  Conse- 
quently the  Greeks  are  driven  back  into  their  camp,  where- 
upon the  second  climax  begins,  arid  this  time  in  the  main 
plot  (Books  viii.-xii.). 


THE   GREEK  HEROES  137 

180.  In  order  not  to  be  forced  to  give  way  to  Achilles, 
Agamemnon  seriously  proposes  to  give  up  the  siege  alto- 
gether.    But  Diomedes  and  the  aged  Nestor,  who  rules 
the  Messenian  and  Triphylian  Pylus,  and  who  surpasses 
all  the  other  chieftains  in  wisdom  and  eloquence,  hinder 
him  by  their  opposition.     Therefore  the  Greeks  attempt 
once  more  to  conquer  in  open  battle,  but  suffer  a  complete 
defeat,  and  Agamemnon  himself  is  wounded,  like  most 
of  the  other  champions. 

The  chief  climax  of  the  action,  and  the  apparent  ap- 
proach of  victory  for  the  hero  of  the  drama,  i.e.  Achil- 
les, are  marked  by  the  battle  round  the  ships  (Books 
xiii.-xv.).  Hector,  the  most  valiant  son  of  king  Priam  of 
Troy,  and  Apollo  force  their  way  into  the  Grecian  camp 
and  set  fire  to  the  ships,  at  which  the  destruction  of  the 
whole  host  seems  almost  inevitable.  Then  in  the  direst 
necessity  comes  a  change  in  affairs,  caused  by  the  waver- 
ing of  Achilles  himself.  Half  renouncing  his  decision, 
he  sends  to  the  assistance  of  the  hard-pressed  fighters 
his  friend  Patroclus,  whom  he  allows  to  put  on  his  own 
armor  and  to  take  command  of  his  Myrmidons.  They 
drive  the  enemy  out  of  the  camp ;  but  as  Patroclus,  against 
his  friend's  command,  pursues  the  Trojans,  he  is  killed  by 
Hector  (Book  xvi.). 

181.  At  this  point  begins  the  decline  of   the  action 
(Books  xvii.-xxi.).    The  final  l  motive '  of  dramatic  inter- 
est is  the  surrender  of  Brisei's  to  Achilles  and  the  humili- 
ation of  Agamemnon.      Yet  even  now  Achilles's  victory 
is  only  apparent,  as  he  himself  well  understands.     For 
he,  the  champion,  has  invited  against  himself  the  charge 
of  arrogance,  since,  on  account  of  the  merely  personal 
injury  done  him  by  Agamemnon,  he  has  too  long  inac- 


138  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

tively  viewed  the  destruction  of  his  people.  This  fault 
of  his  causes  the  death  of  Patroclus,  and  with  it  the 
catastrophe  (Book  xxii.).  After  obtaining  through  his 
mother  new  weapons  from  Hephaestus,  Achilles  kills 
Hector,  although  he  knows  that  he  himself  must  in- 
evitably die  shortly  after  laying  low  this  enemy,  and 
Hector  himself,  when  mortally  wounded,  reminds  him 
of  the  certainty  that  such  a  fate  will  befall  him.  The 
action  comes  to  an  end  with  the  funerals  of  Patroclus  and 
Hector  and  the  lament  of  Achilles  over  the  loss  of  his 
friend.  In  his  lament  he  is  preparing  himself  for  his 
own  death,  which  follows  so  immediately  that,  so  far  as 
Homer  is  concerned,  it  follows  only  behind  the  scenes. 

182.  It  cannot  at  present  be  decided  whether  we  may 
attribute  to  Homer  some  sort  of  an  original  sketch,  or  rough 
draft  of  the  Odyssey,  which  served  as  a  model  for  all  the 
poets  describing  the  return  home  of  the  Trojan  heroes ; 
but  at  any  rate  this  poem,  as  well  as  the  Iliad,  was  laid 
out  according  to  a  plan  exhibiting  a  unity  that  has  been 
marred  only  by  later  interpolations.  Among  these  in- 
terpolations is,  together  with  the  larger  part  of  the  last 
book,  the  whole  '  Telemachy '  (Books  i.-iv.),  in  which  the 
journey  of  Telemachus  to  Pylus  and  Laconia  is  described. 
To  get  information  concerning  the  whereabouts  of  his 
father,  who  has  now  been  away  nearly  twenty  years,  he 
goes  to  the  aged  Nestor,  and  then  to  Menelaiis.  Each 
tells  him  of  his  own  return  home  and  of  that  of  other 
heroes.  From  Menelaiis  he  learns  also  that  his  father  is 
a  prisoner  on  the  island  of  the  nymph  Calypso  in  the  far 
west.  But  before  Telemachus  gets  back  to  Ithaca,  his 
father  himself  has  already  arrived  there.  His  journey 
therefore  has  no  influence  on  the  course  of  events. 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  139 

183.  The  old  Nostos  ('  homeward  journey '),  like  the 
Iliad  —  and  this  speaks  strongly  for  the  identity  of  their 
authors  —  described  only  the  last  year  of  the  wanderings, 
i.e.  the  catastrophe   proper,  while  the   previous   events 
were  set  forth  by  a  narrative   put  into  the  mouth  of 
Odysseus.      During  his  wanderings  on  the  return  from 
Troy,  Odysseus   (Lat.    Ulixes,  Eng.   Ulysses),  the  ruler 
of  the  little  island  of  Ithaca,  has  lost  his  companions  and 
ships.     Though  consumed  with  longing  for  his  home,  he 
lives   for  seven   years  on  the   island   Ogygia  with   the 
nymph  Calypso  ('the  concealer'),  who  tries  to  create  in 
him  a  permanent  attachment  for  herself.     But  with  long- 
ing equal  to  his  own  his  faithful  wife  Penelope  awaits  his 
return  in  Ithaca,  although  wooed  by  numerous  haughty 
suitors.     Finally,  induced  by  Athena's  request,  Zeus  com- 
mands the  nymph  to  release  Odysseus.      On  a  raft  he 
approaches  the  island  of  the  Fhaeaces.     But  here  Posei- 
don dashes  his  craft  to  pieces,  and  only  by  the  help  of 
the  goddess  Ino-Leucothea  is  he  able  to  swim  to  the  shore. 

184.  Nausicaa,  the   daughter  of  king  Alcinotis,  gives 
him  clothing  and  directs  him  to  her  father's  palace.     At 
the  king's  table  he  himself  tells  of  his  previous  adventures. 
He  had  lost  many  of  his  comrades  in  battle  with  the  brave 
Cicones.     The  others  had  tasted  the  sweet  fruit  of  the 
Lotus  in  the  land  of  the  Lotophagl  ('  Lotus-eaters '),  and 
he  had  been  compelled  to  drag  them  to  the  ships  by  main 
force,  since  eating  it  had  made  them  forget  their  native 
land  and  their  friends.     Then  the  voyagers  had  come  into 
the  cave  of  the  one-eyed  Cyclops  Polyphemus,  who  de- 
voured several  of  them,  but  finally  in  a  drunken  sleep 
was  blinded  by  Odysseus.     Since  Polyphemus  was  a  son 
of  Poseidon,  that  god  was  now  angry  at  Odysseus  and  his 


140  GREEK   AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

companions.  Next  they  came  to  Aeolus,  the  ruler  of 
the  winds,  who,  being  graciously  disposed  towards  them, 
shut  up  all  contrary  winds  in  a  bag ;  and  so  they  might 
have  reached  home  safely  if  the  comrades  of  Odysseus 
had  not  secretly  opened  the  bag. 

185.  Then   all   the   ships    except    the   one   on   which 
Odysseus  himself  was  sailing  were  wrecked  by  the  gi- 
gantic Laestrygones.     With  the  one  remaining  ship  he 
reached   the    island    of   the    enchantress    Circe,    who   at 
first  metamorphosed  a  part  of  the  crew  into  swine ;  but 
on  being  threatened  by  Odysseus,  she  restored  them  to 
their  human  form,  and  they  were  then  all  gladly  re- 
ceived by  her.     On  her  advice  Odysseus  proceeded  to 
the  entrance  of  the  lower  world,  to  ask  the  shade  of  the 
seer  Tiresias  about  the  way  homewards.     Past  the  islands 
of  the  bird-formed  SIrenes  (<  Sirens '),  who  charm  men 
by  their  singing   in   order   to   kill   them,  and   between 
the  abode  of  the  sea  monsters  Scylla  and  Charybdis,  he 
sailed  to  the  island  Thrinacia  ('three-pointed7),  where 
his  comrades,  constrained  by  hunger,  slew  some  cattle 
out  of  the  sacred  herds  of  Helios.     In  punishment  for 
this  the  lightning  of  Zeus  shattered  the  last  ship,  and 
only  Odysseus,  who  had  taken  no  part  in  the  sacrilege, 
saved  himself,  reaching  the  island  of  Calypso  after  drift- 
ing about  on  the  mast  for  nine  days. 

186.  Alcinous,  touched  with  sympathy  at  this  narrative, 
now  gives  the  much-tormented  sufferer  many  gifts  and 
sends  him  to  Ithaca  on  a  swift  vessel.     That  he  may 
not  be  recognized  at  once,  his  protectress  Athena  gives 
him  the  appearance  of  a  beggar.     In  this  form  he  hunts 
up  his  shepherd  Eumaeus,  and  from  him  learns  of  the 
arrogance  of  his  wife's  suitors.     Odysseus  tells  nobody 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  141 

except  his  son  Telemaclius  who  he  is ;  but  his  old  dog 
and  his  nurse  Euryclea  recognize  him  in  spite  of  his 
metamorphosis,  while  he  is  staying  in  his  own  house  as  a 
beggar.  Penelope  has  just  announced  that  she  will  marry 
the  one  who  can  stretch  the  bow  of  her  deceased  husband 
and 'shoot  an  arrow  through  the  openings  of  twelve  axes 
placed  in  a  row  one  behind  another.  All  the  suitors 
attempt  in  vain  to  bend  the  bow ;  but  Odysseus  easily 
accomplishes  the  feat.  Being  changed  back  to  his  proper 
form,  he  makes  himself  known,  and  with  the  assistance 
of  his  son  and  two  faithful  shepherds,  Eumaeus  and  Phi- 
loetius,  in  a  savage  conflict,  he  puts  all  the  suitors  to  the 
sword.  Then  for  the  first  time  Penelope  learns  of  her 
husband's  return.  Finally  Odysseus  seeks  out  his  old 
father  Laertes,  who  is  cultivating  a  farm  in  the  vicinity. 

Chryseis  :  Homer,  II.  i.  passim;  Ovid,  Ars  Amat.  ii.  402  ;  Hy- 
ginus,  Fab.  cxxi. 

Achilles:  Homer,  II.  i.,  et  passim;  Ovid,  Amor.  i.  9,  33,  Rem. 
Amor.  777,  Trist.  iii.  5,  37  ;  Hygirius,  Fab.  xcvi. ;  Shak.,  Love's 
Labour's  Lost  v.  2,  635,  Troilus  and  Cressida  passim. 

Briseis  :  Homer,  II.  i.,  et  passim ;  Ovid,  Rem.  Amor.  777,  783, 
Her.  iii.;  Hyginus,  Fab.  cvi. 

Pandarus  :  Homer,  II.  ii.,  et  passim;  Vergil,  Aen.  v.  496 ;  Shak., 
Troilus  and  Cressida  passim. 

Diomedes:  Homer,  II.  ii.,  et  passim;  Ovid,  Met.  xiii.  100  sq.; 
Shak.,  Troilus  and  Cressida  passim. 

Ajax  (son  of  Telamon) :  Homer,  II.  ii.,  et  passim;  Sophocles, 
Ajax  ;  Horace,  Od.  ii.  4,  5 ;  Ovid,  Met.  xiii.  2  :  — 

Clipei  dominus  septemplicis  Aiax. 

Hyginus,  Fab.  cvii.,  cxiv.  ;  Shak.,  King  Henry  VI.  pt.  ii.  v.  1,  26, 
Troilus  and  Cressida  passim. 

Nestor:  Homer,  II.  i.,  et  passim,  Od.  iii.  passim;  Ovid,  Met. 
xiii.  63  ;  Shak.,  Rape  of  Lucrece  203  :  — 

Nestor's  golden  words; 
King  Henry  VI.  pt.  iii.  iii.  2,  188,  Troilus  and  Cressida  passim. 


142  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Hector:  Homer,  II.  i.,  et  passim;  Ovid,  Met.  xii.,  xiii.  passim; 
Euripides,  Andromache  ;  Vergil,  Aen.  i.,  ii.  passim;  Shak.,  Love's 
Labour's  Lost  v.  2,  537,  King  Henry  IV.  pt.  ii.  ii.  4,  237,  King 
Henry  VI.  pt.  iii.  iv.  8,  25,  Troilus  and  Cressida  passim. 

Priam  :  Homer,  II.  xxii.  passim  ;  Ovid,  Met.  xiii.  470  sq.  ; 
Vergil,  Aen.  i.,  ii.  passim;  Hyginus,  Fab.  xc.  ;  Shak.,  Hamlet  ii.  2, 
469,  King  Henry  VI.  pt.  iii.  ii.  5,  120,  Troilus  and  Cressida  passim. 

Patroclus:  Homer,  II.  xvi.,  et  passim. 

Telemachus  :  Homer,  Od.  passim  ;  Ovid,  Her.  i.  98,  107. 

Calypso  :  Homer,  Od.  vii.  245  :  — 


Ovydryp,  5o\6ecr<ra 
Od.  i.  14,  v.  77  sq.;  Ovid,  Amor.  ii.  17,  15:  — 

Traditur  et  nymphe  mortalis  amore  Calypso 
Capta  recusantem  detinuisse  virum. 

Pope,  Moral  Essays  ii.  45  :  — 

'Twas  thus  Calypso  once  each  heart  alarm'd. 

Odysseus  (Ulysses):  Homer,  II.  ii.  passim,  Od.  passim;  Ovid, 
Ars  Amat.  ii.  123,  Met.  xiii.  124  sq.  ;  Vergil,  Aen.  ii.  passim; 
Hyginus,  Fab.  xcv.,  cxxv.,  cxxvi.  ;  Shak.,  Eape  of  Lucrece  200  :  — 

Sly  Ulysses  ; 

King  Henry  VI.  pt.  iii.  iii.  2,  180,  Coriolanus  i.  3,  93,  Troilus  and 
Cressida  passim;  Pope,  Argus  9:- 

Forgot  of  all  his  own  domestic  crew  : 

The  faithful  dog  alone  his  rightful  master  knew. 

Penelope:  Homer,  Od.  passim;  Ovid,  Her.  i.,  Ars  Amat.  iii. 
15  ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  cxxvi.  ;  Marlowe,  Dr.  Faustus  v.  153  :  — 

Chaste  as  was  Penelope. 

Shak.,  Coriolanus  i.  3,  92. 

Alcinous  :  Homer,  Od.  vi.  12,  vii.  passim  ;  Ovid,  Amor.  i.  10, 
55  ;  Vergil,  Geor.  ii.  87  ;  Horace,  Epis.  i.  2,  28. 

Polyphemus:  Homer,  Od.  i.  69  sq.,  ix.  ;  Ovid,  Met.  xiii.  765 
sq.,  xiv.  167,  Ex  Pont.  ii.  2,  115;  Vergil,  Aen.  iii.  641  sq.  ;  Hyginus, 
Fab.  cxxv. 

Laestrygones  :  Ovid,  Met.  xiv.  233;  Hyginus,  Fab.  cxxv. 


THE  GREEK  HEROES  143 

Circe:  Homer,  Od.  x.  136  sq.;  Ovid,  Met.  xiv.  10  sq. ;  Vergil, 
Aen.  vii.  20,  282  ;  Keats,  Endymion  iii.  624:  - 

Cursed,  cursed  Circe! 
O  vulture-witch,  hast  never  heard  of  mercy! 

Chaucer,  Knight's  Tale  1086. 

Sirenes  :  Homer,  Od.  xii.  167  ;  Ovid,  Met.  v.  555  sq.,  Ars  Amat. 
iii.  oil ;  Hyginus,  Fab.  cxli. ;  Milton,  Comus  878:— 

And  the  songs  of  Sirens  sweet. 
Shak.,  Sonnet  cxix. 

Laertes:  Homer,  Od.  i.  430,  et  passim ;  Ovid,  Her.  i.  105,  Met. 
xiii.  144. 


D.    THE   ROMAN   GODS 

187.  In  religion,  as  in  all  other  spheres  of  the  spirit- 
ual life,  the  influence  of  Greece  gradually  displaced  that 
which  was  really  native  in  Rome,  or  at  least  filled  the  old, 
simple  forms  with  new  meaning.  This  process  began  as 
early  as  the  reign  of  the  two  Tarquinii,  when  Greek  ideas 
found  entrance  into  Rome,  partly  through  the  Etruscans, 
and  partly  through  the  colonies  of  southern  Italy,  such  as 
Cumae.  From  about  the  time  of  the  second  Punic  war 
these  ideas  began  to  destroy  entirely  the  old  beliefs,  at 
least  in  the  better  educated  circles  of  society.  At  last, 
almost  all  the  varieties  of  worship  that  existed  anywhere 
within  the  borders  of  the  mighty  Roman  Empire  found 
their  way  to  Rome.  All  the  testimony  that  we  possess  in 
literature  concerning  the  relations  of  the  ancient  Roman 
religion  has  been  influenced  by  this  Hellenizing  tendency ; 
and  only  the  festival  calendar,  which  had  been  made  up 
before  that  period,  and  the  existence  of  certain  priest- 
hoods whose  institution  dates  back  to  the  very  earliest 
times  furnish,  concerning  what  is  genuinely  Roman,  infor- 
mation that  is  trustworthy,  though  meagre.  In  the  fol- 
lowing statements  these  oldest  testimonies  will  serve  as 
landmarks,  in  order  that,  so  far  as  possible,  everything 
which  forced  its  way  from  Greece  into  the  Roman  religion 
may  be  excluded. 

144 


THE  ROMAN  GODS  145 


I.    DIVINITIES   NOT   REDUCED   TO  A  UNIFORM 
CONCEPTION 

188.  In  studying  the  beliefs  of  the  Romans  we  find 
side  by  side  with  the  regular  deities  a  series  of  divinities 
who,  without  being  reduced  to  a  uniform  conception  or 
perfected  to  the  point  of  enjoying  a  complete  personality, 
continued  to  occupy  the  position  of  deified  ancestors  and 
of  spirits  (daimones). 

(1)  First  among  these  should  be  mentioned  the  divini- 
ties representing  souls  :  the  Manes,  Lemures,  and  Larvae. 
Closely  akin  to  these  were  the  Genii,  who  represented 
the  vital  force  and  power  of  procreation  in  men,  and  the 
Junoiies  of  women,  spirits  corresponding  in  their  nature 
to  the  Genii.  They  were  supposed  to  enter  the  body  at 
birth,  and  leave  it  at  death ;  then  they  became  Manes. 
Like  the  souls  of  the  dead,  the  Genii  were  supposed  to 
have  the  form  of  serpents.  But  the  Genius  and  the  Juno 
were  also  worshiped  as  the  tutelary  spirits  of  men  and 
women,  by  whom  oaths  were  ratified,  and  to  whom  sacri- 
fices were  offered  on  birthdays.  , 

Starting  from  this  idea  of  a  tutelary  spirit,  conceived 
of  as  a  person  endowed  with  procreative  power,  the 
Eomans  afterwards  came  to  attribute  Genii  to  the  family 
also,  to  the  city,  to  the  State,  and  at  pleasure  to  every  local- 
ity where  a  creative  activity  might  manifest  itself,  and  by 
this  process  made  them  practically  representatives  of  the 
real  divinities  of  nature. 

189.  An  intermediate  position  like  that  of  these  Genii 
was  occupied  by  a  class  of  divinities  essentially  similar 
to  them,  the  Lares,  who  were  regarded  as  tutelary  spirits 
of  fields,  vineyards,  roads,  and  groves,  and  at  the  same 


146  GREEK   AND  ROMAN   MYTHOLOGY 

time  were  worshiped  by  usages  that  were  in  many  respects 
quite  characteristic  of  the  worship  of  the  dead.  In  earlier 
times  we  hear  usually  of  only  a  single  Lar  familiaris,  who 
protects  and  represents  hearth  and  home;  afterwards, 
however,  they  always  appear  in  pairs.  Little  wooden 
images  of  them,  very  much  alike,  were  placed  above,  or 
near,  the  hearth  in  the  atrium;  and  at  every  meal,  and 
especially  on  the  Calends,  Nones,  Ides,  and  at  all  family 
festivals,  the  matron  of  the  house  offered  to  them  a  little 
food  and  a  fresh  wreath. 

Under  the  term  del  Penates,  divinities  whose  images 
were  likewise  placed  near  the  hearth,  were  included  all 
the  gods  that  were  regarded  as  protectors  of  the  pro- 
visions (penus)  in  the  house,  without  its  being  necessarily 
true  that  the  same  gods  were  everywhere  meant.  Janus, 
Juppiter,  and  Vesta,  are  named  among  them.  From  the 
individual  house  their  functions,  like  those  of  the  Genii, 
were  transferred  to  society  in  common,  and  consequently 
Penates  publicl  were  worshiped  on  the  common  hearth  in 
the  temple  of  Vesta. 

190.  (2)  Divinities  entirely  peculiar  to  the  Eoman  faith, 
not  represented  as  having  any  distinguishing  characteris- 
tics as  individuals,  were  the  Indigetes  ('  those  acting 
within'),  i.e.  whatsoever  spirits  were  supposed  to  bring 
about  individual  acts  in  particular  persons  or  things.  To 
each  one  of  these  divinities  only  a  single,  strictly  defined 
action  was  ascribed,  which  was  exactly  expressed  by  the 
divinity's  name;  it  was  therefore  necessary  to  take  heed 
to  call  for  help  upon  exactly  the  right  Indiges,  and  at  the 
right  moment.  Consequently  the  Pontifices,  a  college  of 
priests  who  had  a  decisive  superintendence  over  these 
matters,  as  well  as  over  other  questions  of  worship,  in 


THE  ROMAN  GODS  147 

their  effort  to  attain  exactness  and  definiteness,  developed 
an  almost  endless  series  of  such  spirits  of  activity  after 
the  pattern  of  a  few  ancient  forms  of  this  sort,  particu- 
larly, it  seems,  during  the  fourth  century  B.C.  Because 
of  this  very  exaggeration  in  their  number  and  importance 
they  soon  lost  their  significance;  at  any  rate,  the  worship 
of  the  Indigetes  had  by  the  time  of  the  second  Punic 
war  fallen  into  disuse.  How  subtle  these  distinctions 
were  may  be  seen,  for  example,  in  the  fact  that  on  the 
occasion  of  a  child's  first  leaving  the  house  it  was  consid- 
ered necessary  to  invoke  Abeona,  on  its  return,  Adeona, 
and  at  the  same  time  also  Domiduca  and  Iterduca. 


II.     DEIFIED    FORCES    OF    NATURE,    AND    DIVINITIES 
CLOSELY  RELATED   TO   SPIRITS   OF  ACTIVITY 

191.  (1)  Among  the  Romans  the  only  proper  divinities 
of  nature  with  fully  individualized  personality  were  the 
representatives  of  the  forces  operating  in  springs  and 
rivers.  As  in  Greece,  the  divinities  of  springs  were  usu- 
ally thought  of  as  female  beings  ;  they  were  worshiped  in 
the  groves  surrounding  the  springs,  but  even  in  very  early 
times  were  also  developed  into  goddesses  of  prophecy  and 
song,  and  into  such  as  come  to  help  difficult  births.  From 
the  idea  of  their  relation  to  prophecy  and  song  the  Came- 
nae,  who  dwelt  in  a  grove  outside  the  Porta  Capena,  came 
to  be  identified  with  the  Greek  Muses ;  while  the  prophe- 
sying spouse  of  king  Numa,  Egeria,  who  was  closely  con- 
nected with  the  Camenae,  and  dwelt  in  the  same  grove, 
was  principally  invoked  in  the  capacity  of  a  goddess 
of  birth.  The  essential  characteristics  of  both  these 
types  were  combined  in  Carmenta,  the  mother  of  Evan- 


148  GREEK   AND  ROMAN   MYTHOLOGY 

der,  who  probably  derived  her  name  from  Carmen  ('  proph- 
ecy'). But  the  spring  goddess  Juturna,  whose  name  was 
borne  by  several  springs  in  Latium,  came  to  be  regarded 
as  the  wife  of  Janus  and  the  mother  of  Fons  or  Fontus, 
i.e.  of  the  spring  itself  conceived  of  as  a  god. 

192.  Among  river  gods  at  Rome  pater   Tibennus  en- 
joyed the  highest  honors.     A  special  priestly  college,  the 
Pontifices  ('  bridge-makers '),  was  commissioned  with  the 
duty  of  keeping  in  repair  the  pans  sublicius,  i.e.  the  bridge 
on  piles  leading  over  the  river.      The  authority  of  the 
Pontifices  was  so  great  that  they  gradually  rose  into  the 
position  of  a  general  court  of  control  over  all  religious 
affairs.      The  very  early  period  of  their  origin  is  indi- 
cated by  a  decision  that  no  iron  should  be  employed  in 
putting  up  the  bridge.     The  annual  sacrifice  of  the  so- 
called  Argei  was  also  of  very  ancient  origin.     On  this 
occasion  in  later  times  figures  made  of  rushes  were  cast 
from  the  bridge  into  the  stream  as  a  substitute  for  the 
earlier  custom  of  sacrificing  human  beings.    In  Lavinium 
the  god  of  the  Numicius  was  worshiped ;  in  Umbria,  the 
Clitumnus ;  in  Campania,  the  Volturnus. 

193,  Compared  with  these  divinities,  who  were  associ- 
ated with  individual  springs  or  individual  rivers,  Neptunus 
('  Neptune '),  the  representative  of  water  in  general,  stood 
apparently,    in   the   earlier    period,    quite   in   the   back- 
ground.     Nevertheless,   in   the   hottest   month,    on   the 
23d    of    July,   the   Neptunalia    were   celebrated    in    his 
honor,  probably  to  induce   him  to  dispense  the   much- 
needed  moisture.     He  first   came  to   be  considered  the 
god  of  the  sea  by  being  identified  with  Poseidon,  whose 
worship  was  introduced  into  Rome  in  the  year  399  B.C. 
by  order  of  the  Sibylline  books. 


THE  ROMAN  GODS  149 

194.  (2)  Among  the  gods  that  were  worshiped  from  the 
earliest  times  the  following  are  pretty  closely  related  to 
the  spirits  of  activity  discussed  above :  Janus,  the  spirit 
of  the  door  arch  (janus),  or  of  the  house  door  as  a  whole 
(jdniia) ;  Vesta,  the  goddess  of  the  hearth  fire ;  Volcanus, 
the  exciter  of  conflagrations ;  the  war  god  Mars  ;  the  gods 
of  sowing  and  reaping,  Saturnus  and  Consus ;  and  the 
series  of  gods  and  goddesses  whose  activity  is  manifested 
in  the  growth  of  plants. 

Janus,  from  being  the  tutelary  spirit  of  the  individual 
door,  developed  into  the  representative  of  entering,  in 
general,  and  so  became  the  god  of  beginning  (indeed, 
both  these  ideas  were  expressed  by  the  Romans  in  the 
single  word  initiuvi).  Therefore  the  beginning  of  the  day 
and  of  the  month,  i.e.  morning  (Janus  Mdtutinus)  and  the 
Kalendae,  were  sacred  to  him.  His  month,  Januarius, 
which  is  coincident  with  the  beginning  of  increase  in 
the  length  of  days,  was  at  a  comparatively  late  period 
promoted  to  the  position  of  being  the  beginning  of 
the  year  proper.1  On  the  9th  of  January,  the  date  of  the 
sacrificial  festival  (Agonium)  celebrated  in  his  honor,  the 
bellwether  of  a  flock  was  sacrificed  to  him,  originally  by 
the  king  himself,  —  who  evidently,  on  the  transfer  of  the 
domestic  worship  of  Janus  to  the  State,  became  the  rep- 
resentative of  the  father  of  the  family,  —  afterwards  by 
the  rex  sacrorum.  Janus  was  invoked  at  the  commence- 
ment of  all  actions,  particularly  at  the  beginning  of 

1  Diva  Angerona,  whose  worship  was  celebrated  on  the  21st  of  De- 
cember, and  who  was  represented  with  mouth  bound  or  covered  with  a 
finger  (favete  linguist),  was  perhaps  an  ancient  goddess  of  the  fortu- 
nate commencement  of  the  year.  But  Anna  Peranna  (or  Perenna),  the 
goddess  of  continuing  years,  whose  festival  was  kept  on  the  15th  of 
March,  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  representative  of  the  new  year. 


150  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

prayers  and  offerings;  indeed,  he  was  regarded  even  at  a 
very  early  period  as  the  pnncipium,  and  the  father  of 
the  gods. 

195.  The  chief  sanctuary  of  this  god,  the  Janus  Gemi- 
nus,  or  Quinnus,  situated  at  the  north  end  of  the  Forum, 
opposite  'the  sanctuary  of  Vesta,  which  served  as  the 
common  hearth  of  the  State,  was  the  very  ancient  arched 
doorway  or  entrance  of  the  Forum,  which  was  itself  pat- 
terned after  the  atrium  of  a  house.  The  doors  on  the 
two  sides  of  the  passageway  were  kept  open  as  long  as 
an  army  was  in  the  field,  probably  for  the  reason  that  at 
one  time  the  king  himself  used  to  march  with  his  troops 
to  war,  and  it  was  necessary  that  the  city  gate  should 
stand  open  for  him  until  his  return,  as  the  house  door 
did  for  the  father  of  the  family.  Under  the  archway 
stood  an  image  of  the  god  with  two  faces,  one  looking 
outward  and  one  inward.  Although  this  image  was 
probably  patterned  after  Greek  models,  yet  it  is  clear 
that  the  intention  was  to  express  by  it  the  attentiveness 
and  watchfulness  which  are  characteristic  of  a  door- 
keeper. Like  a  real  janitor  ('  doorkeeper '),  he  carried 
a  key  and  a  switch  or  staff  (virga)  for  driving  away 
troublesome  intruders ;  and  the  nature  of  his  activity 
was  indicated  by  the  epithets  Patulcius  ('  opener '),  and 
Clusivms  or  Clusius  (' closer'). 

His  other  principal  ancient  place  of  worship  was  the 
hill  named  for  him  Janiculum,  on  which  king  Ancus 
Marcius  had  built  a  fortress,  to  protect  the  commercial 
road  leading  into  Etruria,  and  the  harbor  in  the  Tiber 
situated  at  its  foot.  So  from  being  the  god  of  entrance 
and  departure  he  became  the  protector  of  commerce  and 
navigation;  his  head  and  the  prow  of  a  ship  were  stamped 


THE  ROMAN  GODS  151 

on  the  oldest  Eoman  coin,  the  as;  and  afterwards  repre- 
sentations of  the  special  god  of  harbors,  Portumis,  were 
made  to  imitate  this  well-known  Janus  type. 

196.  Like  the  Hestia  of  the  Greeks,  Vesta  embodied 
the  power  manifesting   itself  in  the   hearth   fire ;    and 
the  hearth  fire  itself  was  worshiped  as  a  goddess,  with- 
out any  special  image.      The  city  also  had  its  common 
hearth,  with  its  Vesta  and  its  Penates.     At  Borne  this 
was  situated  in  a  small  circular  temple  on  the  south  side 
of  the  Forum.     The  service  of  the  goddess  was  attended 
to  by  six  maidens,  who,  being  chosen  in  childhood  by  the 
Pontifex  Maximus,  were  required  to  remain  unmarried 
for  thirty  years.     If  one  of  these  Vestal  virgins  allowed 
the  sacred  fire  to  go  out,  or  became  guilty  of  unchastity, 
the  severest  penalties  were  inflicted  upon  her  by  the 
Pontifex   Maximus.      The   sacred   fire   could   be   newly 
kindled  only  by  means  of  the  old  fire  drill,  or,  afterwards, 
by  the  burning  glass.     The  Vestalia,  the  principal  festival 
of  the  goddess,  came  on  the  9th  of  June,  and  on  this  day 
the  matrons  offered  sacrifices  of  food  on  the  common 
hearth. 

197.  In  contrast  to  Vesta,  who  occupied  the  position  of 
a  benefactress,  yet  supplementary  to  her,  was  Volcanus, 
the  representative  of  the  power  of  fire  that  destroys  all 
the  works  of  men's  hands,  i.e.  the  god  of  conflagrations. 
Since  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  be  kept  removed 
from  the  houses  of  the  city,  he  had  his  temple  outside 
the  walls,  in  the  Campus  Martius.    His  principal  festival 
was  celebrated  on  the  23d  of  August,  at  the  time  when, 
after  the  ingathering  of  the  harvest,  the  full  granaries 
especially  needed  his  protection.     In  order  that  he  might 
subdue  a  fire  that  had  once  broken  out,  he  was  called  in 


152  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

flattery  Mulciber,  mltis  or  quietus.  He  may  have  been 
connected  with  the  fire  of  the  lightning  at  first  because 
this  causes  conflagrations ;  but,  since  in  ancient  prayers 
he  was  invoked  in  conjunction  with  Maia,  the  goddess 
of  the  fruitfulness  of  the  ground,  whose  worship  was 
celebrated  in  May,  it  seems  probable  that  other  results 
of  his  activity  in  the  fire  of  the  lightning  and  of 
the  sun  were  recognized.  It  was  not  until  later  times 
that  he  became  the  god  of  the  smith's  art  and  of 
volcanoes,  and  then  only  by  being  identified  with 
Hephaestus. 

198.  Like  Yolcanus,  the  divinities  that  protected  agri- 
culture, Saturnus,  Consus,  and  Ops,  retained  their  charac- 
ter as  spirits  of  activity.  Saturnus,  or  Saeturnus,  was  the 
god  of  sowing ;  after  the  sowing  of  the  winter  grain  was 
finished,  the  feast  of  the  Saturnalia  was  celebrated  in  his 
honor  from  the  17th  to  the  21st  or  23d  of  December,  with 
banqueting,  the  interchange  of  presents,  and  exemption 
of  the  slaves  from  their  customary  duties.  The  wax 
candles  that  were  regularly  included  among  the  gifts 
undoubtedly  symbolized  the  newly-beginning  increase  of 
sunlight,  which  gave  ground  for  the  hope  that  the  seed 
buried  in  the  ground  would  thrive.  The  ancient  sanc- 
tuary of  Saturn,  and  his  temple,  which  was  built  by  Tar- 
quinius  Superbus,  were  situated  beside  the  ascent  that 
led  from  the  Forum  to  the  Capitol.  Consus,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  the  harvest  god,  the  deus  condendi,  i.e.  god  of 
stowing  away  the  produce  of  the  fields.  As  this  prod- 
uce was  originally  kept  in  subterranean  rooms,  the  old 
altar  of  Consus  in  the  Circus  Maximus  was  usually  con- 
cealed in  the  ground,  and  was  uncovered  and  cleared  for 
use  in  sacrifice  only  during  the  festivals  of  the  Consualia, 


THE  ROMAN  GODS  153 

which  were  celebrated  with  running  matches  on  the  21st 
of  August  and  the  15th  of  December. 

With  Consus  is  intimately  associated  Ops  Consiva,  i.e. 
Ops,  the  wife  of  Consus.  She  represented  the  opima 
frag um  copia,  the  abundance  of  the  products  that  were 
stored  away  at  harvest  time  ;  her  two  feasts,  the  Opicon- 
slvia  and  the  Opalia,  were  separated  from  those  of  her 
husband  by  intervals  of  only  three  days  in  each  case.  At 
a  later  period  Saturn  was  identified  with  Cronus,  and 
Ops  with  Rhea,  and  many  peculiarities  of  the  Greek 
forms  of  their  worship  were  transferred  to  this  worship 
in  Rome. 

199.  (3)  The  vital  forces  operating  in  forest  and  field 
were  ascribed  to  the  activity  of  various  impregnating  gods 
and  conceiving  goddesses.  The  country  people  and  shep- 
herds believed  that  they  owed  to  these  divinities  the  prod- 
ucts of  the  ground  and  the  abundance  of  their  flocks,  and 
worshiped  them ;  and  the  divinities,  as  did  their  worship- 
ers, had  their  favorite  abodes  in  shady  groves  and  at 
bubbling  springs.  Their  nature  was  as  simple  and  rustic 
as  the  mind  of  the  worshipers,  and  everything  dear  and 
precious  to  the  countryman  was  committed  to  their  pro- 
tecting care. 

Faunus  was  the  husband  or  father  of  Fauna,  who  was 
usually  invoked  as  Bona  Dea.  His  name  signifies  '  the 
benevolent  god/  being  derived  from  favere  ('  to  be  gra- 
cious'). He  appeared  in  human  form  under  the  name 
Evander  (Gk.  Euandros,  'good  man'),  who  was  said  to  have 
established  the  first  settlement  on  the  site  where  Rome  was 
afterwards  located.  It  was  also  told  of  this  Evander  that 
he  had  founded  the  oldest  sanctuary  of  Faunus  in  a  grotto 
on  the  Palatine  hill,  and  instituted  the  "feast  of  the  Luper- 


154  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

calia,  which  was  celebrated  there  on  the  15th  of  February, 
at  which  the  Luperci,  i.e.  the  priests  of  Faunus  Lupercus 
('  little  wolf),  girded  with  goatskins,  but  otherwise  naked, 
tried  to  secure  fruitfulness  for  man,  beast,  and  field  by 
running  round  the  ancient  limits  of  the  town's  territory. 
In  harmony  with  this  custom  Faunus  himself  was  rep- 
resented naked,  with  goatskin,  garland,  cornucopia,  and 
drinking  horn. 

200.  Very  closely  related  to  Faunus  was  Silvlnus,  the 
spirit  of  the  forest ;   but  his  activity,  as  his  name  indi- 
cates, was  confined  exclusively  to  the  forest,  and  there- 
fore in  his  representations  in  art  he  wears  a  pine  wreath, 
and  carries  a  pine  branch  on  his  arm.     He,  as  well  as 
Faunus,  frightened  the  lonesome  wanderer  by  the  prophe- 
sying voices  of  the  forest.     Silvanus  especially  protected 
boundaries  and  property  in  general. 

In  the  luxuriant  productiveness  of  the  fields  and  vine- 
yards the  Romans  thought  they  saw  the  particular  activ- 
ity of  Liber  and  his  wife  Libera,  who,  like  Juppiter  Liber, 
being  designated  by  their  names  bountiful  dispensers  of 
plenty,  were  afterwards  regularly  identified  with  Diony- 
sus and  Persephone.  The  name  of  the  latter  was  changed 
in  Italy  to  the  form  Proserpina. 

Similarly,  gardens  and  their  fruit  trees  were  under  the 
special  protection  of  Vertumnus,  who  was  supposed  to 
change  his  form  as  the  gardens  themselves  changed  their 
appearance  in  the  varying  seasons,  and  of  Pomona,  the 
beautiful  dispenser  of  fruits,  either  of  whom  could  be 
recognized  by  the  ever  present  pruning  knife. 

201.  Among  the  goddesses  of  fruitfulness  Fauna  (Bona 
Dea)  took  precedence.    Her  most  noted  sanctuary  at  Rome 
was  situated  at  the  foot  of  the  Aventine  hill.     The  anni- 


THE  ROMAN  GODS  155 

versary  of  its  establishment  was  celebrated  on  the  first 
of  May.  Her  chief  festival,  however,  was  kept  with 
secret  sacrifices  by  the  vestal  virgins  and  the  noble 
women  of  Eome,  all  men  being  excluded,  at  the  beginning 
of  December,  in  the  house  of  a  praetor  or  a  consul,  who 
in  this  function  probably  had  taken  the  place  earlier 
allotted  to  the  king.  In  works  of  art  she  appears  as  a 
woman  in  a  sitting  posture,  fully  clothed ;  like  her  hus- 
band Faunus,  she  carries  in  her  arms  a  cornucopia. 

Besides  Libera  and  Pomona,  who  have  already  been 
mentioned,  Feronia,  Flora,  Pales,  and  perhaps  Diana, 
were  closely  related  to  the  Bona  Dea. 

Feronia  was  a  goddess  of  central  Italy,  whose  worship 
was  carried  on  chiefly  in  a  grove  near  Capena,  not  far 
from  Mount  Soracte  in  Etruria,  and  in  a  similar  one  near 
Tarracina,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Pontine  marshes.  At 
Eome  a  festival  in  her  honor  was  kept  about  the  middle 
of  November  in  the  Campus  Martins.  She  was  always 
invoked  as  a  giver  of  the  blessings  of  the  harvest ;  and, 
inasmuch  as  at  all  harvest  festivals  the  slaves  enjoyed 
many  liberties,  the  emancipation  of  slaves  was  frequently 
accomplished  in  the  temple  of  this  goddess. 

202.  Flora,  who  likewise  was  indigenous  to  central 
Italy,  was  in  the  narrower  sense  a  goddess  of  flowers,  and 
then,  by  a  natural  development  of  the  thought,  a  dispenser 
of  fruitfulness.  At  Eome  she  had  a  very  ancient  temple 
on  the  Quirinal  hill.  On  the  28th  of  April  the  flower 
festival  (Flordlia)  was  celebrated  with  wanton  dances 
and  coarse  jests ;  after  a  while  scenic  games  and  games 
of  the  circus  were  added  to  the  festivities.  With  her 
was  associated  Eobigus,  the  god  that  protected  the  grain 
from  the  robigo  ('  rust '). 


156  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Pales  was  the  special  tutelary  goddess  of  pastures 
and  herds  of  cattle,  as  her  name  indicates,  being  con- 
nected with pd-sco  (<to  pasture')  (c/.  Pan).  In  Kome  the 
seat  of  her  worship  was  on  the  Palatium  (Palatine  hill), 
which  was  probably  named  after  her.  On  the  21st  of 
April  the  Palllia  (or  Parilia)  were  celebrated  in  her 
honor,  a  feast  at  which  sheep  and  stables  were  purified 
and  consecrated  by  water  and  bloodless  sacrifices.  For 
the  same  purpose  shepherds  and  flocks  leaped  over  heaps 
of  burning  straw.  A  similar  custom  prevailed  at  the 
feast  of  Feronia,  and  is  still  in  vogue  in  Germany  at  the 
bonfires  on  Easter  eve  and  St.  John's  day. 

203.  Diana  should  probably  be  added  to  this  series 
of  goddesses  of  fruitfulness.  Like  all  the  others,  she 
was  worshiped  in  well-watered  groves  (Diana  Nemoren- 
sis),  especially  on  Mount  Tifata,  near  Capua,  and  in  the 
vicinity  of  Tusculum,  near  Aricia.  At  Aricia  the  custom 
was  for  him  to  succeed  to  the  priesthood  who  should  slay 
his  predecessor  with  a  bough  broken  in  the  sacred  grove. 
This  was  evidently  a  kind  of  human  sacrifice  which  was 
offered  with  the  assistance  of  the  goddess  herself,  who 
manifested  her  power  in  her  trees.  At  Rome  her  an- 
cient temple  was  situated  on  the  Aventine.  Here,  and 
throughout  Italy,  her  principal  feast  was  kept  on  the 
Ides  of  August,  a  day  on  which  sacrifices  were  offered 
to  Vertumnus  also.  In  Aricia  there  was  a  torchlight 
procession  in  the  early  morning  to  honor  her,  just  as 
Pales  was  worshiped  at  sunrise,  and  Flora  by  lighting 
candles.1  Like  Feronia,  she  protected  slaves,  evidently 
those  especially  that  had  fled  into  the  forest  which  was 

1  Mater  Matuta,  for  whom  the  Matralia  ('mother  festival')  were 
observed,  was,  like  Diana,  a  goddess  both  of  the  dawn  and  of  birth. 


THE  ROMAN  GODS  157 

consecrated  to  her,  and  were  pursued  like  fleeing  stags. 
Like  the  Bona  Dea,  moreover,  she  was  especially  wor- 
shiped by  women  and  was  besought  as  the  giver  of  fe- 
cundity and  an  easy  birth.  This  phase  of  her  character, 
perhaps,  accounts  for  the  fact  that  several  of  her  temples, 
for  example,  those  at  Tusculum,  Aricia,  and  Rome,  were 
sanctuaries  of  confederacies  of  various  Latin  tribes.  At 
a  later  period  Diana,  as  goddess  of  groves  and  fruit- 
fulness,  was  fully  identified  with  Artemis,  and  thus 
became  a  goddess,  of  the  hunt,  and  a  moon  goddess,  an 
idea  which,  so  far  as  the  indigenous  Diana  is  concerned, 
could  have  had  no  foundation  except  in  her  feast  on 
the  Ides. 

204.  (4)  It  is  more  doubtful  what  position  was  origi- 
nally occupied  by  Mars,  who  from  the  earliest  times  was 
worshiped  in  all  the  tribes  of  central  Italy.  Various 
things  go  to  show  that  he  was  an  old  sun  god,  viz.  his 
close  relationship  to  the  Greek  Apollo;  certain  ancient 
formulas  of  supplication,  in  which  he  is  entreated  to  pro- 
tect and  bless  the  fields,  crops,  vineyards,  etc. ;  and  the 
dedication  of  the  so-called  ver  sacrum,  i.e.  the  offering  of 
the  next  spring's  expected  increase  in  human  beings, 
cattle,  and  crops,  which  was  promised  at  times  of  severe 
disaster.  On  the  other  hand,  he  was  closely  enough 
related  to  the  spirits  of  activity  to  represent  principally, 
at  least  in  later  times,  the  divine  power  exerted  in  war. 
But  his  efficacy  in  war  was  not  restricted  to  so  narrow  a 
province  as  was  that  of  the  Indigetes  of  later  times,  who 
were  creations  of  the  elaborate  wisdom  of  the  priests. 
His  name  Mars,  or  Mavors,  and  his  ancient  epithet 
Gradivus  cannot  be  explained  with  certainty ;  but  it  is 
evident  from  his  old  symbolic  attributes,  and  from  what 


158  GREEK  AND  ROMAN   MYTHOLOGY 

we  know  of  his  feasts,  that  he  was  regarded  as  a  god  of 
war  even  in  very  early  times. 

205.  In  the  royal  residence  of  the  old  Romans,  the 
Eegia,  were  kept  the  sacred  spears  of  Mars  and  a  shield 
(ancile)  which  fell  from  heaven.  King  Numa  had  eleven 
other  shields  made  like  this.  The  twelve  Palatine  Salii 
(<  leapers '),  or  priests  of  Mars,  each  provided  with  one  of 
these  shields,  in  the  month  sacred  to  the  god  (March) 
performed  armed  dances,  chanting  an  ancient  song.  The 
significance  of  his  other  feasts  indicates  that  this  cele- 
bration probably  marked  the  beginning  of  the  season 
for  war,  which  was  restricted  to  the  summer.  On  the 
27th  of  February  and  the  14th  of  March,  near  the  old 
altar  of  Mars,  situated  in  the  midst  of  the  Campus 
Martius,  the  Equlria  were  held,  which  consisted  in  a 
review  of  horses,  and  a  chariot  race.  On  the  19th  and 
the  23d  of  March,  at  the  feast  of  Quinqudtrus  and 
of  Tubilustrmm,  the  weapons  and  war  trumpets  were 
inspected  and  purified.  Likewise  on  the  19th  of  Octo- 
ber, after  the  close  of  the  war  season,  a  purification 
of  weapons  (ArmUustrium)  took  place,  while  the  sacri- 
fice of  the  October  horse  evidently  corresponded  to  the 
Equlria  of  the  spring;  for  the  horse  that  had  been  vic- 
torious at  the  preceding  chariot  race  was  on  the  15th 
of  October  sacrificed  to  Mars. 

The  wolf,  the  emblem  of  murder  attended  by  bloodshed, 
was  considered  sacred  to  Mars ;  likewise  the  woodpecker 
(picus),  which  produced  the  impression  of  being  a  war- 
like creature  by  his  bill  (which  pierces  into  the  trees  as  a 
battering-ram  bores  through  the  gates),  and  by  the  feath- 
ery, plumelike  adornment  of  his  head.  Here  we  find  the 
explanation  of  the  legend  that  a  she-wolf  nourished  Rom- 


THE  ROMAN   GODS  159 

ulus  and  Eemus ;  for  the  war  god  himself  was  their  father, 
and,  accordingly,  the  ancestor  of  the  warlike  Romans. 

206.  Quirmus,  the  chief  god  of  the  Sabines,  who  settled 
on  the  Quirinal  hill,  was  so  closely  related  to  the  old 
Latin  Mars  that  the  worship  of  the  two  gods  easily 
blended.  Yet  side  by  side  with  the  flamen  Mdrtialis 
(Mars's  especial  priest)  there  continued  to  exist  a  sepa- 
rate flamen  Quirinalis;  and  besides  the  Palatine  Salii 
of  Mars  there  were  twelve  Salii  peculiar  to  Quirinus, 
who  had  their  abode  on  the  Quirinal.  While  Mars  was 
regarded  as  the  father  of  Eomulus,  Quirinus  was  after- 
wards identified  with  Eomulus  himself.  That  he  was 
also  considered  a  tribal  god  seems  to  be  indicated  fur- 
ther by  the  festival  customs  of  the  Quirinalia,  which 
were  celebrated  on  the  17th  of  February. 

Janus:  Ovid,  Fast.  i.  64  sg.,  ii.  49  sg.,  vi.  119;  Vergil,  Aen. 
vii.  180,  610,  viii.  357;  Horace,  Epis.  ii.  1,  255;  Milton,  Par.  L.  xi. 

127  :  "  With  him  the  cohort  bright 

Of  watchful  cherubim  ;  four  faces  each 
Had,  like  a  double  Janus. 

Vesta  ;  Vestal  Virgins :  Fire  worship  was  a  special  feature  of 
Indo-European  religious  conception.  We  find  this  tendency  more 
or  less  marked  in  all  the  representatives  of  the  race.  From  the 
smothered  spark  to  the  orb  of  day,  adoration  was  given  to  this  all- 
purifying,  changing  element.  The  Hindu  looked  upon  the  fire  as 
an  intercessory  priest  that  would  carry  his  oblation  to  heaven.  In 
the  Persian  religion  fire  was  the  mysterious  symbol  demanding 
veneration.  This  idea  is  emphasized  in  the  Avesta.  In  the  tomb 
of  Darius  at  Naqshi  Rustam,  opposite  the  figure  of  the  king  is 
the  altar  with  the  sacred  fire  blazing.  This  same  conception  of  the 
sanctity  of  fire  gave  rise  to  the  story  of  Prometheus  among 
the  Greeks,  and  established  the  holy  fire  at  the  Roman  temple  of 
Vesta.  The  first  hymn  of  the  Rig  Veda  describes  the  priesthood 
of  fire,  from  which  the  few  following  stanzas  are  translated.  Rig 
Veda  i.  1 :  — 


160  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

1.  Agni  I  praise  the  household  priest  the  heavenly  lord  of  sacrifice,  | 
The  Hotar  most  generous  in  blessings. 

2.  Agni  as  by  ancient  seers  so  by  recent  ones  is  to  be  praised,  | 
He  shall  bring  hither  the  gods. 

4.   What  holy  sacrifice  thou,  O  Agni,  art  encompassing,  | 
That  goes  among  the  gods. 

9.  As  a  father  to  a  son,  so,  O  Agni,  be  accessible  to  us,  | 
Accompany  us  into  well-being. 

Ovid,  Met.  xv.  864,  Fast.  iii.  45,  vi.  713  sq. ;  Vergil,  Geor.  i.  498, 
iv.  384,  Aen.  ii.  296,  567  ;  Macaulay,  Battle  of  Lake  Regillus  35. 
Bona  Dea  :    Ovid,  Ars  Amat.  iii.  244. 

Silvanus:   Ovid,  Met.  xiv.  639;  Vergil,  Eel.  x.  24;  Spenser, 
F.  Q.  i.  vi.  14. 

Vertumnus :  Ovid,  Met.  xiv.  642  sq.  ;  Pope,  Vertumnus  and 
Pomona  ;  Keats,  Endymion  ii.  444  :  — 

Taste  these  juicy  pears 
Sent  me  by  sad  Vertumnus,  when  his  fears 
Were  high  about  Pomona. 

Pomona  :  Ovid,  Met.  xiv.  623  sq. ;  Pope.  Windsor  Forest,  37:  — 

See  Pan  with  flocks,  with  fruits  Pomona  crowned ; 
Vertumnus  and  Pomona ;  Macaulay,  Prophecy  of  Capys  18. 
Flora  :    Ovid,  Fast.  v.  195 :  - 

Chloris  eram,  quae  Flora  vocor. 
Spenser,  F.  Q.  i.  iv.  17. 

Pales:  Ovid,  Fast.  iv.  722  sq. ;  Macaulay,  Prophecy  of  Capys  18. 
Mars  Gradivus  :  Ovid,  Ars  Amat.  ii.  566,  Fast.  ii.  861,  iii.  169  ; 
Vergil,  Aen.  x.  542. 


III.    DIVINITIES   OF  THE  HEAVENS 

207.  Mightier  than  all  the  divinities  of  the  earth,  who 
have  just  been  discussed,  appear  to  have  been  the  repre- 
sentatives of  those  forces  that  operate  in  the  heavens 
and  in  the  air.  In  Italy  these  forces  were  embodied  in 
the  divine  pair,  Juppiter  and  Juno.  The  former  was, 
perhaps,  considered  the  god  whose  power  was  exercised 
in  the  sky,  preferably  by  day ;  the  latter,  a  moon  goddess, 
who  ruled  by  night. 


THE  ROMAN  GODS  161 

The  mightiest  phenomenon  that  takes  place  in  the 
atmosphere  is  the  thunderstorm ;  therefore  Juppiter,  to 
whose  agency  this  was  traced,  like  Zeus  among  the 
Greeks,  was  considered  the  most  powerful  god,  who  held 
everything  else  under  his  sway.  He  carried  the  lightning 
as  his  weapon,  and  in  the  earliest  times  in  particular  forms 
of  worship  was  even  called  by  the  name  Fulgur  ('  light- 
ning ').  He  was  the  giver  of  signs  by  means  of  lightning 
and  by  birds,  the  observation  and  the  interpretation  of 
which  was  the  duty  of  the  college  of  priests  called 
Augurs.  He  also  sent  the  fructifying  thundershowers, 
and  in  times  of  prolonged  drouth  was  invoked  under 
the  name  Elicius  ('  the  one  that  entices  forth '  the  rain). 
At  the  same  time  he  came  to  be  considered  as  the  giver 
of  fruitfulness  and  of  luxuriant  plenteousness,  whose 
chief  characteristic  was  Liberdlitds  (' generosity7).  When 
so  regarded  he  enjoyed  the  epithet  Liber.  The  celebration 
of  the  festivals  relating  to  the  culture  of  the  vine  was  in 
his  honor,  viz.  the  Vmalia  Eustica  on  the  19th  of  August, 
the  Meditrmdlia  on  the  llth  of  October,  and  the  Vmalia 
on  the  23d  of  April ;  agriculture,  cattle-raising,  and 
young  people  just  getting  their  growth  were  under  his 
protection ;  and  a  chapel  of  Juventas  ('  youth ')  was  ac- 
cordingly located  in  his  temple  on  the  Capitoline  hill. 

208.  On  the  other  hand  the  phenomena  of  the  thun- 
derstorm that  threaten  men  with  danger  and  destruc- 
tion were  ascribed  to  a  divinity  that  was  distinguished 
from  Juppiter,  viz.  Vejovis  or  Vedjovis,  i.e.  the  evil 
Juppiter.  His  sanctuary  was  situated  between  the  two 
summits  of  the  Capitoline.  He  was  represented  as  a 
youth  with  a  bunch  of  thunderbolts  or  arrows  in  his 
hand. 


162  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Summanus  also,  the  god  of  the  thunderstorms  which 
come  up  in  the  night  sub  mane  ('  towards  morning '),  was 
but  a  secondary  form  of  Juppiter.  It  is  still  doubtful 
whether  the  old  epithet  Lucetius  ('  light-bringer ')  did, 
as  is  usually  assumed,  characterize  Juppiter  as  the 
god  of  the  light  of  the  sky,  or  whether  this  name, 
too,  should  be  referred  to  the  light  of  the  thunderbolt, 
the  lightning. 

209.  The  mighty  god  of  the  thunderstorm,  under  the 
name  of  Juppiter  Stator,  became  a  helper  in  battle,  and 
under  the  epithet  Victor  was  considered  the  bestower  of 
victory.  Victorious  generals  offered  to  Juppiter  Feretrius 
as  a  gift  the  spolia  opima,  i.e.  the  armor  of  the  opposing 
commander  whom  they  had  slain  with  their  own  hands. 
His  servants  were  the  Fetiales,  who  with  solemn  cere- 
monies demanded  satisfaction  for  injuries,  declared  wars, 
and  concluded  treaties ;  for  his  lightning-flash  punished 
the  perjured  one  who  violated  a  treaty.  For  this  rea- 
son Juppiter  was  invoked  as  the  god  of  oaths  of  other 
kinds ;  Dius  Fidius,  the  god  of  fidelity,  was  regarded  as 
the  Genius  of  Juppiter,  and  the  sanctuary  of  Fides  (i.e. 
'  fidelity '  conceived  of  as  a  goddess)  from  the  earliest 
times  stood  close  beside  his  temple  on  the  Capitoline. 
In  this  temple,  moreover,  was  the  sacred  boundary  stone, 
the  emblem  of  Terminus,  in  order  that  Juppiter  might 
be  recognized  as  the  protector  of  boundaries  and  property. 

One  of  the  oldest  sanctuaries  where  the  worship  of  Jup- 
piter was  carried  on  was  a  sacred  grove  on  the  summit  of 
the  Mdns  Albanus,  where  formerly  the  Latin  communities 
had  united  themselves  under  the  leadership  of  Alba  Longa 
for  the  worship  of  Juppiter  Latiaris,  the  protector  of  La- 
tium.  The  younger  Tarquinius,  who  built  the  temple  on 


THE  ROMAN  GODS  163 

the  Capitoline,  likewise  erected  one  on  this  very  spot. 
Here  the  Feriae  Latlnae  were  celebrated  with  sacrifices 
and  games ;  and  commanders  to  whom  the  senate  had 
refused  a  regular  triumph  at  the  Capitol  often  inarched 
to  this  sanctuary  to  offer  their  spoils  of  war. 

210.  But  after  Eome  had  gained  the  leadership  over 
Latium,  the  temple  on  the  southern  summit  of  the  Capi- 
toline  became  the  most  important  place  of  Juppiter's  wor- 
ship ;  for,  as  Rome  itself  dictated  its  commands  to  the 
world,  so  the  Roman  Juppiter  Capitollnus,  or  J.  Optimus 
Maximus,  ruled  over  heaven  and   earth.     He  was   the 
proper  lord  and  protector  of  the  free  city ;  therefore  the 
victorious  home-returning  commander  rendered   to   him 
fitting   thanks,   and,   arrayed   with   the    attributes    and 
raiment   of    the   god,    marched   in   triumph   up   to   the 
Capitol,  to  lay  the  victor's  laurel  in  the  lap  of  the  god 
who  gave  the  victory,  and  to  dedicate  the  most  valuable 
part  of  the  booty  to  his  temple.     The  most  important 
games,  the  Ludl  Magm,  out  of  which  the  Ludl  Edmanl 
and  the  Ludl  Plebel  were  afterwards  developed,  were  cele- 
brated in  his  honor. 

211.  Side  by  side  with  the  worship  of  Juppiter  upon 
the  Capitoline  was  that  of  .his  wife  Juno  and  his  daughter 
Minerva.     His  temple,  accordingly,  had  a  threefold  cella, 
the  central  division  belonging  to  Juppiter  himself,  the  one 
on  his  left  to  Juno,  and  that  on  his  right  to  Minerva. 
The  association  of  the  three  divinities  was,  to  be  sure, 
entirely  Greek  in  its  origin,  but  was  adopted  in  Etruria, 
and  thence  carried  over  to  Rome  towards  the  close  of  the 
epoch  of  the  kings. 

The  first  minister  of  Juppiter  was  the  flamen  Dialis, 
who  offered  sacrifices  on  all  the  Ides  (days  of  full  moon), 


164  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

all  of  which  were  sacred  to  Juppiter,  and  at  all  the  other 
feasts  of  this  god ;  the  flaminica,  wife  of  the  Jlamen,  was 
the  priestess  of  Juno.  Their  married  life  was  supposed 
to  emblematize  that  of  the  divine  pair  whom  they  repre- 
sented. 

212.  The  worship  of  Juno,  which  was  common  through- 
out Italy  from  ancient  times,  was  very  prominent  among 
the  Latins,  Oscans,  and  Umbrians.  With  the  Latins,  one 
month,  Junius  or  Junonius,  was  named  after  her,  and  on 
its  Calends  the  feast  of  Juno  Moneta  ('  the  reminding ') 
was  kept  at  Kome,  probably  to  celebrate  her  marriage 
with  Juppiter. 

Juno  Moneta  had  an  ancient  temple  on  the  Capitoline, 
and  in  the  inclosure  belonging  to  this  were  kept  the  sacred 
geese  known  as  the  rescuers  of  the  city.  As  the  wife  of 
Juppiter  Rex  she  was  called  Eegma ;  her  son  Mars  was 
born  on  the  first  of  March,  the  date  on  which  the  women 
celebrated  in  her  honor  the  Matronalia  ('mother  festi- 
val'). Moreover,  all  the  Calends  (days  of  new  moon) 
were  sacred  to  her,  probably  because  she  was  originally  a 
moon  goddess.  To  this  fact  her  epithets  Lucetia  and 
Luclna  ('  light-bringer ')  refer,  though  under  the  latter 
name  she  was  usually  invoked  as  the  goddess  of  child- 
birth. Juno  Lucina,  who  in  works  of  art  often  carries 
in  her  arms  a  child  in  swaddling  clothes,  had  a  very 
ancient  grove  on  the  Esquiline,  and  wras  worshiped  ex- 
tensively all  over  Italy.  As  goddess  of  marriage 'she 
was  called  also  Juno  Juga  or  Jugalis  ('the  conjugal'), 
or  Pronuba  ('bridesmaid').  Her  epithet  Sospita,  which 
was  current  especially  at  Lanuvium,  designated  her  a  pro- 
tectress or  savior  in  general.  When  so  represented,  she 
is  armed  with  shield  and  spear,  and  wears  a  goatskin 


THE  ROMAN  GODS  165 

over  her  head,  shoulders,  and  back.  Juno  Reglna,  like 
Juppiter  Rex,  carries  the  scepter  as  a  distinctive  attri- 
bute. 

Lucina  :   Ovid,  Fast.  ii.  449  :  — 

Gratia  Luciriae.    dedit  haec  tibi  nomina  lucus, 
Aut  quia  principium  tu,  Dea,  lucis  habes. 

Horace,  Car.  Saec.  15  :  — 

Sive  tu  Lucina,  probas  vocari 
Seu  Genitalis. 

Shak.,  Pericles  iii.  1,  10,  Cymbeline  v.  4,  43 ;  Chaucer,  Knight's 
Tale  1227. 


IV.    DIVINITIES  OF  DEATH 

213.  The  idea  of  a  general  realm  of  the  dead  did  not 
become  thoroughly  prevalent  at  Eome,  as  has  been  shown 
in  §  9  ;  and  accordingly  no  divinities  conceived  of  as 
rulers  of  such  a  domain  were  independently  developed 
among  the  Romans.  The  coming  of  death  itself,  how- 
ever, was  ascribed  to  the  activity  of  a  god  who  ruled 
sometimes  terribly,  and  again  gently,  who  was  named 
Orcus,  although  his  form  was  not  fully  perfected  in  the 
minds  of  his  worshipers.  Besides  him  there  appeared  un- 
der various  appellations  a  motherly  guardian  of  the  dead, 
who  was  probably  really  Mother1  Earth  (Tellus  or  Terra 
Mater),  inasmuch  as  she  received  the  dead  into  her  bosom. 
From  the  Manes  and  Lares  she  was  named  Mania,  Lara 
or  Larunda ;  from  the  Larvae,  Avia  Larvarum  ('  grand- 
m other  of  ghosts'),  and  like  them  was  represented  as  of 
frightful  form.  Finally,  on  account  of  the  silence  of 

1  Tellus  was  worshiped  as  a  mother  especially  by  means  of  the 
Fordicidia,  a  sacrifice  of  pregnant  cows. 


166  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

the  dead,  she  was  called  Dea  Muta  or  Tacita  ('  the  dumb 
or  silent  goddess 7).  Perhaps  it  would  be  best  to  place 
in  this  group  Acca  Larentia  (mother  of  the  Lares  ?  )  also, 
to  whom  funeral  sacrifices  were  offered  at  the  feast  of  the 
Larentalia  (23d  of  December) ;  for  her  attributes  seem 
to  characterize  her,  like  Tellus,  as  a  goddess  of  the  fruit- 
fulness  of  the  ground.  (For  Libitina  see  §  216.) 

Tellus:  Ovid,  Met.  i.  80;  Vergil,  Aen.  iv.  166;  Shak.,  Hamlet 
iii.  2,  166,  Pericles  iv.  1,  14. 


V.   PERSONIFICATIONS 

214.  By  transferring  to  the  spiritual  and  moral  realm 
the  same  kind  of  conceptions  which  had  called  forth 
belief  in  the  spirits  of  activity  (Indigetes),  the  Romans 
very  early  reached  the  point  of  worshiping  actual  per- 
sonifications. To  the  oldest  of  these  belong  the  following : 
Fortuna  (the  goddess  of  '  fortune '),  usually  distinguished 
by  a  rudder  and  a  cornucopia;  Fides  (' fidelity '),  with 
ears  of  corn  and  a  fruit  basket ;  Concordia  ('  harmony '), 
with  a  horn  of  plenty  and  a  cup ;  Honos  and  Virtus  (the 
god  of  '  honor '  and  the  female  representative  of  '  valor ?), 
both  in  full  armor ;  Spes  ('  hope '),  with  a  flower  in  her 
hand;  Pudicitia  (' chastity '),  veiled;  and  Salus  (' deliv- 
erance/ 'safety').  Afterwards  were  added  Pietas  ('love 
of  parents7),  Libertas  ('freedom7),  Febris  (' goddess  of 
fevers '),  dementia  ('  mildness '),  with  cup  and  scepter, 
Pax  ('  goddess  of  peace '),  with  the  olive  branch. 
Finally,  in  the  imperial  epoch,  it  became  the  custom  to 
personify  any  abstract  idea  whatever  in  the  form  of  a 
woman  distinguished  by  fitting  attributes. 


THE  ROMAN  GODS  167 


VI.    DIVINITIES   ORIGINALLY  FOREIGN 

215.  Towards  the  end  of  the  epoch  of  the  kings  the 
Etruscan  culture,  and  with  it,  and  through  its  agency, 
the  culture  of  Greece,  which  already  prevailed  in  southern 
Italy,  began  to  exert  an  influence  at  Rome  also.    The  Sibyl- 
line books,  originating  at  Cumae,  and  containing  a  col- 
lection of  Greek  oracles,  were  particularly  instrumental  in 
introducing  into  Rome  the  worship  of  a  whole  multitude 
of  Greek  divinities.     As  the  process  went  on,  either  the 
distinguishing   characteristics  of   the  foreign   divinities 
were  transferred  to  those  of  the  native  spirits  of  activity 
to  which  they  were  by  nature  closely  related,  or  with  the 
foreign   ideas   the   foreign   names   also   were   borrowed. 
So   Minerva   originally,    in   all   probability,    represented 
only  the  divine  power  that  produces  thought  and  under- 
standing  in   the   human   race,    and   was,   at    the    same 
time,  the  protectress  of  expert  workmanship.     Her  recep- 
tion  into   the   trinity  (§  211)    worshiped   at   the   Capi- 
tol she  owed  entirely  to  her  identification  with  Pallas 
Athena,  whose   characteristics  were   now   attributed   to 
Minerva,  except  that   she   did   not   become   properly  a 
war  goddess. 

216.  Venus,  likewise,  whose  name  is  connected  with 
venustus  ('  charming '),  was  not  worshiped  at  Rome  in 
the  oldest  times;    it  was  the  Greek  Aphrodite,  coming 
from  southern  Italy,  and  afterwards  from  Mount  Eryx  in 
Sicily,  that  found  entrance  into  Rome  under  that  name. 
Her  oldest  temple  was  in  the  grove  of  Libitina,  a  goddess 
of   desire  and  of  death ;   and  her  epithets,  Murcia  and 
Cloacina,   were   undoubtedly   borrowed   from    particular 
localities. 


168  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 

Mercurius  may  have  been  at  first  that  particular  one  of 
the  Indigetes  who  was  considered  the  god  of  merx  and 
mercatura,  i.e.  the  spirit  of  '  traffic.'  By  being  identified 
with  Hermes  he  became,  for  the  first  time,  a  fully  devel- 
oped god.  But  since  he  always  remained  far  more  ex- 
clusively the  god  of  merchants  than  Hermes  was,  the 
money  bag  was  his  constant  attribute  in  Italy. 

The  case  was  similar  with  Hercules :  Herakles,  the 
favorite  son  of  Zeus,  and  the  dispenser  of  rural  fruitful- 
ness,  was  confused  with  the  begetting  Genius  of  Juppiter 
(who  was  supposed  to  have  a  Genius  just  as  truly  as 
every  man  had).  Thus  characterized  he  was  united  in 
wedlock  with  that  Juno  who  represented  the  creative 
power  of  woman.  But  afterwards  the  purely  Grecian 
form  of  the  myth  was  so  completely  intermingled  with 
this  exclusively  Italian  conception  that,  in  view  of  the 
enmity  prevailing  between  Hera  and  Herakles,  all  sorts 
of  contradictions  resulted. 

217.  On  the  contrary,  the  worship  of  Ceres  at  Kome 
was  purely  Greek.  To  be  sure  the  name  is  closely 
connected  with  crescere  and  creare,  but  the  divine  per- 
son was  no  more  nor  less  than  Demeter,  who  under 
that  name  was  introduced  into  Kome  in  496  B.C.,  and 
whose  worship  was  so  little  altered  in  form  that  even 
in  Rome  her  priestesses  were  required  to  be  Greek 
women. 

Still  older,  but  likewise  purely  Greek,  was  the  worship 
of  Apollo,  in  whose  honor  the  ludl  Apollinares  were  cele- 
brated on  the  13th  of  July  after  212  B.C.,  in  consequence 
of  an  oracle  of  the  Sibylline  books.  Dls  pater,  likewise, 
the  ruler  of  the  lower  world,  and  the  husband  of  Proser- 
pina, was  Pluto-Hades,  appropriated  bodily  and  un- 


THE  ROMAN  GODS  169 

changed   by  the   Romans ;    Dls  is  dives  ('  the  rich ')  a 
translation  of  Pluto. 

218.  In  the  year  204  B.C.  the  sacred  stone  of  the 
Magna  Mater  Idaea,  i.e.  of  Ma  or  Ammas,  was  brought 
from  Pessinus  to  Rome.  In  186  B.C.  the  worship  of  Bac- 
chus, which  had  degenerated  on  account  of  its  excesses, 
was  of  necessity  forcibly  suppressed.  Then  Isis  and  Sara- 
pis  came  in  from  Alexandria;  and,  finally,  among  many 
less  important  systems  of  worship,  the  Mysteries  (( secret 
worship')  of  the  Persian  sun  god  Mithras  were  intro- 
duced, into  which  had  already  been  incorporated  many 
of  the  ideas  and  usages  of  Christianity,  which  was  by 
this  time  victoriously  advancing.  Thus  Christianity  it- 
self, as  in  Greece,  so  also  in  Rome,  found  a  soil  well  pre- 
pared for  its  vigorous  growth. 

Sibylla:  Ovid,  Met.  xiv.  104,  154;  Vergil,  Aen.  vi.  98,  176; 
Pope,  Dunciad  iii.  15 :  — 

A  slip-shod  Sibyl  led  his  steps  along. 
Shak.,  Taming  of  the  Shrew  i.  2,  70,  Othello  iii.  4,  70. 


INDEX 


[Of  several  references  under  one  head,  the  most  important  one  is  placed  first, 
in  full-faced  type.  Keferences  to  literary  passages  stand  last,  also  in  full-faced  type. 
The  numbers  refer  to  sections,  except  when  preceded  by  the  letter  p.] 


Acamas  157 

Acastus  162 

Acca  Larentia  213 

Achelous  146,  76,  p.  62 

Acheron  6,  7,  p.  7 

Achilles  177  sq.,  2,  58, 131,  p.  141 

Achilieus  v.  Achilles 

Acrisius  128 

Actaeon  57,  p.  50 

Admetus  162,  p.  128 

Adonis  106,  p.  85 

Adrastusl71,74,  173 

Aea  161,  163 

Aeacus  8,  p.  9 

Aeetes  164  sq.,  161,  p.  128 

Aegeus  151  sq.,  154,  165 

aegis  23,  35,  40 

Aegisthus  130  sq.,  p.  103 

Aegle  103,  p.  78 

Aegyptus  126  sq. 

Aello  43 

Aeneas  107,  p.  86 

Aeolus  44,  184,  p.  38 

Aesculapius  102,  51,  p.  78 

Aeson  161,  p.  128 

Aethra  151,  p.  122 

Agamemnon  131,  177  sq.,  p.  103 

Aganippe  11  -L 


Agenor  123,  62,  p.  96 
Agla'ia  113 
Aglauros  38,  117 
Agonium  194 
Aides  v.  Hades 
A'idoneus  v.  Hades 
Aisa  118 

Ajax  179,  p.  141 
Alcestis  162,  p.  128 
Alceus  136 
Alcldes  136 

Alcinoiis  186,  184,  p.  142 
Alcmaeon  174,  171 
Alcmene  136,  29 
Alpheus  76,  p.  62 
Althaea  159,  p.  123 
Amalthea  30,  146 
Amazones  58,  133,  141,  155,  p. 
Amazons  v.  Amazones 
ambrosia  28 
Ammas  v.  Ma 
Amor  v.  Eros 

Amphiaraus  171  sq.,  p.  133 
Amphictyonia  72 
Amphion  124  sq.,  p.  96 
Amphitrite  70,  72,  p.  61 
Amphitryon  136  sq.,  p.  116 
Amycus  166 
171 


51 


172 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN   MYTHOLOGY 


Anchises  107,  p.  86 

ancliia  205 

Androgeos  153 

Andromeda  128,  p.  102 

Angerona  194 

Anna  Perenna  194 

Antaeus  142,  p.  117 

Anthesteria  87,  89,  95 

Antigone  173,  170,  p.  133 

Antiope  124,29,62 

Apate  14 

Aphrodite  105  sq.,  33,  81,  117,  1GO, 

179,  216,  p.  85 
Aphrodites  107 
Apollo  49  sq.,  29,  54,  57,  125,  136, 

144,  178,  180,  204,  217,  p.  49 
Apsyrtus  1(55,  p.  128 
Arachne  39,  p.  33 
Ares  116  sq.,  24,  28,  105,  163,  164, 

p.  89 

Arethusa  76,  p.  62 
Argei  192 
Arges  21 
Argo  161,  p.  128 
Argonauts  161  sq.,  p.  128 
Argus  126,  p.  102 
Ariadne  153,  92,  158,  p.  74 
Arlon  74,  173 
Aristaeus  50,  57,  p.  50 
Armilustriiun  205 
Artemis  57  sq.,  29  sq.,  49,  63,  81, 

110,  125,  131,  153,  159  sq.,  203, 

p.  50 

Asklepios  v.  Aesculapius 
Astarte  106,  70,  108 
Asteria  59 
Astraeus  44 
Atalanta  160,  p.  123 
Ate  14 

Athamas  163 
Athena  35  sq.,   32,  116,  136,   179, 

183,  186,  215,  p.  33 
Atlas  142,  129,  p.  102 
Atreus  130  sq. 
Atropos  118 


Augeas  140 
augures  207,  19 
Aurora  v.  Eos 
Auxo  115 
Avia  Larvarum  213 

Bacchae  86 

Bacchus  85  sq.,  218,  p.  74 

Bear  63 

Bellerophou  v.  Bellerophontes 

Bellerophontes  133,  36,  58,  p.  105 

Bellona  116,  p.  89 

Bona  Dea  201, 199,  p.  160 

Boreas  44,  166,  p.  38 

Briseis  178,  181,  p.  141 

Brontes  21 

Busiris  142 

Cabin  33 

Cacus 141 

Cadmus  123,  62,  166,  168,  p.  96 

caduceils  v.  kerykeion 

Calais  166 

Calchas  131 

Calliope  114 

Calydonian  hunt  159  sq. 

Calypso  182  sq.,  185,  p.  142 

Camenae  191 

Capaneus  171  sq. 

Carmenta  191 

Carpo  115 

Castalia  114 

Castor  134  sq.,  p.  106 

Cecrops  150,  p.  122 

Celeiis  97 

Centauri  77  sq.,  68  sq.,  139,  147, 

156,  p.  62 

Centaurs  v.  Centauri 
Cepheus 128,  p.  102 
Cerberus  7,  143,  p.  8 
Cercopes  145 
Cercyon  151 
Ceres  94,  217,  p.  75 
Cerynean  hind  139 
Ceto  69 


INDEX 


173 


Chalkeia  38 

Charis  113,33,  105 

Charitesll2sq.,30,  105 

Charon  7,  p.  8 

Charybdis71,  185,  p.  61 

Chimaera  133,  p.  105 

Chiron  78,  139,  1GI 

Chrysaor  36 

Chryseis  178,  p.  141 

Chryses  178 

Chytroi  3 

Cicones  184 

Cilix  123 

Circe  185,  60,  p.  143 

dementia  214 

Clio  114 

Clotho  118 

Clymene  54 

Clytaemnestra  131,  134 

Clytia  54 

Cocytus  6,  p.  7 

Concordia  214 

Consudlia  198 

Consus  198 

Core  95  sq. 

creation  of  man  34 

Creon  137,  165,  168,  p.  116 

Cretan  bull  62,  141,  152 

Creusa  150 

Cromyonian  sow  151 

Cronus  21,  30,  94,  198,  p.  29 

Cupido  111,  p.  86 

CybeleSl,  30,  58,  p.  51 

Cyclopes  20,  21,  33,  36,  184,  p.  30 

Cycnus  145 

Daimones  10,  12  sq.,  188,  191 

Damastes  151 

Danae  128,  24,  p.  102 

Danaides  127 

Danaiis  126  sq.,  p.  102 

Dea  Muta,  Tacita  213 

Dei  Parentes  9 

Deianira  146  sq. 

Deidamia  156 


Deimos  116,  105 

Deino  42 

Delia  50 

Delphi  nia  49 

Delphyne  50 

Demeter  94  sq.,  24,  217,  p.  75 

Demophoon  (son  of  Celeiis)  97 

Demophoon  (son  of  Theseus)  157 

Desire  v.  Pothos 

Despoina  98 

Diana  203,  p.  50 

dies  par  en  tales  3 

Dike  115,  14,30 

Diomedes  (son  of  Ares)  141 

Diomedes  (son  of  Tydeus)  179  sq., 

p.  141 

Dione_29,  105,  p.  32 
Dionysia  87  sq.,  95 
Dionysus  85  sq.,  32,  48,  77,  153, 

200,  p.  74 

Dioscuri  134  sq.,  124,  156,  p.  106 
Diovis  23 
Dirce  124,  p.  96 
Dis  Pater  101,217 
Discordia  116 
Dithyrambus  88 
Dms  Fidius  209 
dreams  4,  1,  48,  102,  149, 172 
Dryades  80, 83 
Dryops  83 

eagle  25,  28,  34 
earthquakes  73,  22 
Egeria  191 
Elaphebolia  57 
Electra  131 
Eleusinia  95,  98 
Elysium  8,  123,  p.  9 
Endymion  61 
Enyo  (Bellona)  116,  p.  89 
Enyo  (one  of  the  Graeae)  42 
Eos  63  sq.,  44,  p   51 
Epaphus  126,  p.  102 
Epicaste  168,  170 
Epigoni  174,  167 


174 


GREEK   AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 


Equlria  205 

Erato  114 

Erechtheus  38,  44,  150,  p.  33 

Erichthonius  38,  99 

Erinyes  41,  131,  174,  p.  34 

Eriphyle  171 

Ens  116 

Eros  110  sq.,  105,  p.  86 

Erymanthian  boar  139 

Erythea  141 

Eryx  141 

Eteocles  170s?.,  p.  133 

Ethiopians  49,  128,  133 

Euandros  v.  Evauder 

Euanthes  92 

Eumaeus  186 

Eumenides  41,  p.  34 

Eunomia  115,  30 

Euphrosyne  113 

Europa  62,  29,  123,  p.  51 

Eurus  44 

Euryclea  186 

Eurygama  170 

Eurynome  113,  32 

Eurystheus  137,  130,  143 

Eurytus  144 

Euterpe  114 

Evander  199,  191 

Fata  118 
Fates  v.  Fata 
Fauna  201,  199 
Faun  us  199  sq. 
Febris  214 
Ferdlia  3 

Feriae  Latinae  209 
Feronia  201 
fetidles  209 
Fides  209,  214 
fldmines  206,  211 
fldminica  211 
Flora  202  sq.,  p.  160 
Flordlia  202 
Fons,  Fontus  191 
Fordicidia  213 


forms  of  worship  15  sq. 
Fortuna  120,  214,  p.  92 
Furies  v.  Erinyes 

Gaea,  Ge  99,  24,  38 

Galatea  70 

Gamelia  56 

Ganymeda  28 

Ganymedes  28,  p.  32 

Genii  188,  209 

Geryones  141,  p.  117 

Giants  v.  Gigantes 

Gigantes  20,  36,  p.  29 

Glaucus  69,  p.  61 

yorgoneion  35 

Gorgones  36,  41  sq.,  128,  p.  33 

Gorgons  v.  Gorgones 

Graces  v.  Charites 

Graeae  42,  p.  33 

Gratiae  v.  Charites 

grave  worship  3 

Hades  100  sq.,  95  sq.,  98,  116,  128, 

131,  143,  172,  p.  76 
Haemon  169 
Halios  Geron  69,  146 
Hamadryades  80 
Harmonia  123,  105 
Harpies  v.  Harpyiae 
Harpyiae  43  sq.,  48,  166,  p.  38 
haruspicina  19 
Hebe  28,  143,  p.  32 
Hecate  59  sq.,  96,  165,  p.  51 
Hector  180s?.,  p.  142 
Helen  131,  29,  107, 134  sq.,  156, 179, 

p.  103 
Helieia  54 

Helios  54,  62,  96,  141,  164,  185 
Helle  163,  p.  128 
Heosphoros  63 
Hephaestus  32  sq.,  28,  38  sq.,  181, 

197,  p.  32 
Hera  56,  24,  28  sq.,  32  sq.,  49,  126, 

136  sq_.,  143,  147,  161,  165,  p.  32 
Herakles  v.  Hercules 


INDEX 


175 


Hercules  136  sq.,  20,  20,  58,  162, 

21(5,  p.  116 

Hermaphroditus  107,  p.  86 
Hermes  45  sq.,  25,  52,  05,  110,  12G, 

13<>,  216,  p.  38 
Hermionc  131,  p.  103 
heroes  122  sq.,  8,  13 
Herse  38 

Hesperides  142,  p.  117 
Hestiii  (57 
Himeros  111 
Hippocrene  36,  114 
Hippodamia   (daughter  of  Atrax) 

156,  p.  122 
Hippodamia    (daughter  of   Oeno- 

maiis)  130,  p.  103 
Hippolyte  155,  141,  p.  117 
Hippolytus  155,  p.  122 
Hippomedon  171 
Hippomenes  160 
Honos  214 
Horae  115,30 
human  sacrifice  2,  26,  51,  163,  193, 

203 

Hyacinthus  50,  p.  50 
Hyades  90,  p.  74 
Hyakinthia  50 
Hygea  103 
Hyllus  147 
Hyperborel  49 
Hypermnestra  127 
Hypnos  101,  p.  77 

lacchus,  86,  95,  p.  74 

lasion  97 

laso  103 

Idas  135,  p.  106 

Meet  of  divinity  12  sq. 

Ilithyia56  sq. 

Inachus 126 

incubdtid  4 

Tndigetes  190,  204 

Infer!  9 

Ino  70,  123,  163,  183,  p.  61 

Id  126 


locaste  168,  170,  p.  133 

lolaus  138 

lole  144,  147 

Ion  150 

Iphigema  131,  p.  103 

Iphitus  144 

Irene  115,  14,30 

Iris  65,  p.  51 

Isis  218 

Isles  of  the  Blessed  8 

Ismene  170 

Isthmia  72 

Isthmian  Games  v.  Isthmia 

Itonians  145 

Ixion  77  sq. ,  p.  62 

Janus  194  sq.,  189,  191,  p.  159 

Jason  161  sq.,  p.  128 

Juno  211  sq.,  28, 188,  207, 216,  p.  32 

JQnones 188 

Juppiter  207  sq.,  23,  28,  189,  p  30 

Juturna  191 

Juventas  207 

Karneia  50 
Keresll6,3 
kerykeion  45,  65 

Labdacus 168 

labyrinth  153 

Lachesis  118 

Laertes  186,  p.  143 

Laestrygones  185,  p.  142 

Lai  us  168  sq. 

Lamios  145 

Laomedon  28 

Lapithae  77,  156,  p.  62 

Lara  213 

Ldrentdlia  213 

Lares  189 

Larunda  v.  Lara 

Larvae  3,  188 

Latona  29 

laurel  51,  53 

Leda  134,  29,  p.  106 


176 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 


Lemures  3,  188 

Lemur  ia  3 

Lenaea  88 

Lernaean  Hydra  138,  p.  116 

Lethe  6,  p.  8 

Leto  49,  29,  57,  125,  p.  49 

Leucothea  70,  183,  p.  61 

Liber  200 

Libera  200 

Libertas  214 

Libitma  216 

Lichtis  147 

Linus  137 

Lotophagi  184 

Lower  World  7,  6,  41,  60,  98  sq., 

100  sq.,  129,  132,  142  sq.,  147, 156, 

185,  213 
Lucifer  63 
Lucina212,  p.  165 
ludl  210,  198,  202,  217 
Luna  55 
Lupercalia  199 
Lupercl  199 
Lyaeus  88,  p.  74 
Lycaon  26,  p.  32 
Lycians  49,  133 
Lycomedes  157 
Lycurgus  91 
Lycus 124 
Lynceus  127  sq. 

Ma  58,  30,  85,  218 

Machaon  103,  p.  78 

Maenades  86 

Magna  Mater  218 

Maia  25,  45,  47,  197 

Manes  9,  188,  p.  9 

Mania  213 

Marathonian  bull  152 

Mars  204  sq.,  212,  p.  160,  p.  89 

Marsyas  79,  p.  62 

Mater  Matiita  203 

Mdtrdlia  203 

Mdtrondlia  212 

Medea  164  sq.,  60,  152,  161,  p.  122 


Meditrindlia  207 

Medusa  36,  128 

Megara  137 

Meleager  159  sq.,  p.  123 

Melicertes  70,  p.  61 

Melkart  70,  149 

Melpomene  114 

Mem  n  on  64 

Mene  61 

Menelaus  131,  179, 182,  p.  103 

Menestheus  157 

Menios  140 

Mercurius  216,  47,  p.  38 

Metis  30,  39 

Milanion  160 

Minerva  215,  211,  p.  33 

Minos  62,  8,  p.  9 

Minotaur  v.  Minotaurus 

Minotaurus  152  sq.,  62,  158,  p.  51 

Minyas  91 

Mithras  218 

Mnemosyne  114 

Moerae  118,  30,  159,  162 

moon  55  sq.,  12,  28  sq.,  135,  155, 

165,  203 

Musae  114,  30,  52  sq.,  191,  p.  86 
Muses  v.  Musae 
Myrmidons  180 
Mysteries  95,  59,  89,  98,  218 

Naiades  80,  p.  62 
Naiads  v.  Naiades 
Narcissus  96,  101,  p.  75 
Nausicaa  184 
necromancy  4 
nectar  28 
Nekysia  3 
Nemean  lion  138 
Nemeseia  119,  3 
Nemesis  119,  135 
Nephele  163,  77 
Neptunalia  193 
Neptunus  193,  p.  61 
Nereides  70,  12,  p.  61 
Nereids  v.  Nereides 


INDEX 


177 


Nereus  69,  p.  60 

Nessus  147 

Nestor  180,  182,  p.  141 

nightmare  1,  169 

Nike  36,  14,  24,  40,  104 

Nile  76 

Niobe  125,  130,  p.  96 

Notus  44 

Numa  191,  205 

Nymphae  80,  12,  47,  48,  58,  86,  90 

Nymphs  v.  Nymphae 

Oceanmae  96 

Oceanus  68,  96,  p.  60 

Ocypete  43 

Odysseus  182  sq.,  p.  142 

Oedipus  167  sq.,  p.  133 

Oeneus  146,  159,  171 

Oenomaus  130,  p.  103 

Oenopion  92 

Ogygia  183 

omens  v.  haruspicina 

Omphale  145,  p.  117 

Opdlia  195 

Opiconsivia  195 

Ops  198 

oracles  52,  19,  25,  99,  102,  149,  172 

Orcus  213 

Oreades  80 

Orestes  131,  p.  103 

orgies  86,  218 

Orion  63,  57,  p.  50 

Orithyia44 

Orpheus  114,  p.  87 

Oschophoria  88,  154 

Palaemon  70,  p.  61 
Pales  202  sq.,  p.  160 
Palilia  202 
Palladia  35 
Pallas  152 

Pallas  Athena  v.  Athena 
Pan  83  sq.,  p.  74 
Panacea  103 
Panathenaia  38 


Pandarus  179,  p.  141 

Pandora  34,  p.  33 

Pandrosos  38 

Panidnia  72 

Parcae  118,  p.  92 

Paris  107,  131,  179,  p.  103 

Parthenopaeus  171 

Pasiphae  62 

Patroclus  180  sq.,  2,  p.  142 

Pax  214 

Pegasus  133,  36,  p.  105 

Peitho  105 

Pelias  161  sq.,  p.  128 

Pelops  130,  p.  103 

Penates  189,  196 

Penelope  183,  186,  p.  142 

Pentheus  91,  p.  74 

Pephredo  42 

peplus  35  sq. 

Periphetes  151 

Persa  164 

Perseides  29 

Perseis  62 

Persephone  98,  24,  101,  106,  156, 

p.  75 
Perses  59 

Perseus  128,  35, 133, 136 ,9?.,  p.  102 
personifications   103    sq.,   14,  99, 

214 

personifications  of  towns  99 
Phaeaces  183 
Phaedra  155,  157 
Phaethon  54,  p.  50 
Philoctetes  147,  p.  117 
Philoetius  186 
Phmeus  166,  p.  128 
Phlegra  20 
Phlegyas  78,  p.  62 
Phobos  116,  105 
Phoebus  v.  Apollo 
Phoenix  123,  62 
Pholus  139 
Phorcys  69 
Phosphorus  63 
Phrixus  163,  p.  128 


178 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY 


Pietas  214 

Pirithoiis  156,  78,  p.  122 

Pittheus  151 

Pityokamptes  v.  Sinis 

Pleiades  63,  25 

Pluto  101 

Pliitus  97,  115,  p.  75 

Podalirius  103 

Poeas 147 

Pollux  134  sq.,  39,  166,  p.  106 

Polybus  168 

Polydeukes  v.  Pollux 

Polymnia  114 

Polymces  170  sq.,  p.  133 

Polypemon  151 

Polyphemus  184,  70,  p.  142 

pomegranates  56,  96 

Pomona  200,  p.  160 

pontifices  192,  190, 196 

Port  un  us  195 

Poseidon   72  sq.,  37  sq.,  98,  128, 

150  sq.,  183  sq.,  193,  p.  61 
Pothos  111 
prayer  17,  15,  41 
Priam  107,  180,  p.  142 
Priapus  92,  p.  75 
Procrustes  151 
Proetus  91 
Prometheus    34,    39,    142,   p.    33, 

p.  159 

Proserpina  200,  24,  217,  p.  75 
Proteus  69,  p.  60 
Psyche  111,5,48 
Pudlcitia  214 

purification  17,  15,  16,  27,  51 
Pyanepsia  154,  50 
Pylades  131 
Pyriphlegethon  6,  p.  8 
PJythia  52 
Pytliia  50 
Python  50,  p.  49 

Quinquatrus  205 
Quirlnalia  206 
Quirmus  206 


religid  16 

Remus  205 

rex  sacrorum  194 

Rhadamanthus  62,  8 

Rhea  30,  58,  81,  94,  198,  p.  32 

river  gods  76,  12,  192 

Robigus  202 

Romulus  205  sq. 

Sabdzius  85 

sacrifices  15  sq.,  41,  101,  121 

Saeturnus  v.  Saturnus 

Salil  205  sq. 

Salus  214 

Sarapis  218 

Saturnalia  198 

Saturnus  198,  p.  29 

Satyr!  82,  12,  79,  93,  p.  74 

Satyrs  v.  Satyri 

Sciron  151 

ScyHa71,  185,  p.  61 

Selene  61,  29,  55,  83 

Semele  90,  24,  123,  p.  74 

Semnai  41 ,  170 

serpent  4,  20,  23,  38,  97,  102  sq. 

123,  133,  135,  137,  188 
Sibylline  books  215,  193,  p.  169 
Silcni  79 

Silvanus  200,  p.  160 
Sinis  151 

Sirenes  185,  p.  143 
Sirens  v.  Sirenes 
Sirius  63 

Sisyphus  132,  p.  104 
Sol  v.  Helios 
Solymi  133 

souls  1  sq.,  10,  43,  48,  116,  188  sq. 
souls  in  animal  form  4 
Sparti  123,  137,  168 
Spes  214 
Sphinx  169 

spirits  of  growth  81  sq.,  199  sq. 
spolia  opima  209 
Staphylus  92 
sta?*s  63 


INDEX 


179 


Steropes  21 

Strophius  131 

Stymphalian  birds  139 

Styx  6  sq.,  p.  7 

Summanus  208 

sun  49  sq.,  12,  21,  61  sq. ,  148,  155, 

164,  204 
Syleus  145 
Symplegades  166 
Synoikid  154 

taeniae  16,  111  sq. 

Tantalus  129,  p.  102 

Tartarus  8,  21,  p.  9 

Telamon  179 

Telemachus  182,  186,  p.  142 

Telephassa  62 

Telliis  99,  213,  p.  166 

Terminus  209 

Terpsichore  114 

Terra  Mater  v.  Tellus 

Tethys  68,  p.  60 

Thalia  (a  Grace)  113 

Thalia  (a  Muse)  114 

Thallo  115 

Thanatos  101,  111 

Thargelia  50  sq. 

Themis  115,14,30,118 

Thersander  174 

Theseus  150  sq.,  58,  72,  141,  143, 

170,  173,  p.  122 
Thesmophoria  97 
Thetis  70,  32,  178  sq.,  181,  p.  61 
Thrmacia  54,  185 
thunderstorms    20    sq.,    12,    130, 

207  sq. 

Thyestes  130,  p.  103 
Thyiades86 
Tiberinus  192 
Tiresias  170,  185 
Titanes  21,  89,  p.  30 
Titans  v.  Titanes 
Tithonus  64,  p.  51 
tragedy  88 
tribunal  of  the  dead  8 


Trmacria  v.  Thrmacia 
Triptolemus  97,  p.  75 
Triton  69,  p.  61 
Trivia  59 
Trophonius  102 
Tros  28 

Tubilustrium  205 
Tyche  120  sq.,  p.  92 
Tydeusl71  sq.,  179 
Tyndareus  134 
Typhoeus  22,  p.  30 
Typhon  v.  Typhoeus 

Ulixes  v.  Odysseus 
Ulysses  v.  Odysseus 
Urania  114 
Uranus  24,  108,  p.  31 

Vejovis  208 

Venus  216,  p.  85 

ver  sacrum  204 

Vertumnus  200,  203,  p.  160 

Vesta  195  sq.,  189,  p.  159 

Vestdlia  196 

Victoria  v.  Nike 

Vlndlia  207 

Virtus  214 

vittae  16 

Volcanus  197,  p.  32 

water  68  sq.,  17,  191  sq. 
wind  43  sq..,  12,  184 
,  51,  205 


Zagreus  89 

Zephyrus  44,  65,  p.  38 

Zetes  166 

Zethus  124 

Zeus  20  sq.,  32  sq.,  36,  45,  56  sq., 
90,  96,  105,  113  sq.,  118,  124,  126, 
128  sq.,  132,  134,  136  sq.,  163, 
178  sq.,  183,  185,  p.  30 

Zeus  Asterios  62 

Zeus  Chthonios  v.  Hades 

Zeus  Laphystios  163 


Announcement. 

THE  STUDENTS'  SERIES  OF  LATIN  CLASSICS. 

UNDER   TIIK    KD1TOIUA.L   SUPERVISION    OP 

ERNEST  MONDELL  PEASE,  A.M., 

Leland  Stanford  Junior  University, 

AND 

HARRY  THURSTON  PECK,  PH.D.,  L.H.D., 

Columbia  College,. 


This  Series  will  contain  the  Latin  authors  usually  read  in  Ameri- 
can schools  and  colleges,  and  also  others  well  adapted  to  class-room 
use,  but  not  as  yet  published  in  suitable  editions.  The  several 
volumes  will  be  prepared  by  special  editors,  who  will  aim  to  revise 
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Where  there  are  German  editions  of  unusual  merit,  representing 
years  of  special  study  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances, 
these  will  be  used,  with  the  consent  of  the  foreign  editor,  as  a  basis 
for  the  American  edition.  In  this  way  it  will  be  possible  to  bring 
out  text- books  of  the  highest  excellence  in  a  comparatively  short 
period  of  time. 

The  editions  will  be  of  two  kinds,  conforming  to  the  different 
methods  of  studying  Latin  in  our  best  institutions.  Some  will 
contain  in  the  introductions  and  commentary  such  a  careful  and 
minute  treatment  of  the  author's  life,  language,  and  style  as  to 
afford  the  means  for  a  thorough  appreciation  of  the  author  and  his 
place  in  Latin  literature.  Others  will  aim  merely  to  assist  the 
student  to  a  good  reading  knowledge  of  the  author,  and  will  have 
only  the  text  and  brief  explanatory  notes  at  the  bottom  of  each 
page.  The  latter  will  be  particularly  acceptable  for  sight  reading, 
and  for  rapid  reading  after  the  minute  study  of  an  author  or  period 
in  one  of  the  fuller  editions.  Eor  instance,  after  a  class  has  read 
a  play  or  two  of  Plautus  and  Terence  carefully,  with  special  refer- 
ence to  the  peculiarities  of  style,  language,  metres,  the  methods 
of  presenting  a  play,  and  the  like,  these  editions  will  be  admirably 
suited  for  the  rapid  reading  of  other  plays. 

The  Series  will  also  contain  various  supplementary  works  pre- 
pared by  competent  scholars.  Every  effort  will  be  made  to  give 
the  books  a  neat  and  attractive  appearance. 

1 


The  following  volumes  are  now  ready  or  in  preparation :  — 

CAESAR,  Gallic  War,  Books  I-V.    By  HAROLD  W.  JOHNSTON,  Ph.D., 

Professor  in  the  Indiana  University. 
CATULLUS,  Selections,  based  upon  the  edition  of  Riese.    By  THOMAS 

B.  LINDSAY,  Ph.D.,  Professor  in  Boston  University. 
CICERO,  Select  Orations.     By  B.  L.  D'OOGE,  A.M.,  Professor  in  the 

State  Normal  School,  Ypsilanti,  Mich. 

CICERO,  De  Senectute  et  de  Amicitia.     By  CHARLES  E.  BENNETT, 

A.M.,  Professor  in  the  Cornell  University. 

CICERO,  Tusculan  Disputations,  Books  I  and  II.  By  Professor 
PECK. 

CICERO,  De  Oratore,  Book  I,  based  upon  the  edition  of  Sorof.  By 
W.  B.  OWEN,  Ph.D.,  Professor  in  Lafayette  College.  Ready. 

CICERO,  Select  Letters,  based  in  part  upon  the  edition  of  Siipfle- 
Bockel.  By  Professor  PEASE. 

EUTROPIUS,  Selections.  By  VICTOR  S  CLARK,  Lit.B.,  New  Ulm 
High  School,  Minn.  Ready. 

GELLIUS,  Selections.    By  Professor  PECK. 

HORACE,  Odes  and  Epodes.  By  PAUL  SHOREY,  Ph.D.,  Professor  in 
the  Chicago  University.  Nearly  Ready. 

HORACE,  Satires  and  Epistles,  based  upon  the  edition  of  Kiessling. 
By  JAMES  H.  KIRKLAND,  Ph.D.,  Professor  in  Vanderbilt  Uni- 
versity. Ready. 

LIVY,  Books  XXI  and  XXII,  based  upon  the  edition  of  Wolfflin.  By 
JOHN  K.  LORD,  Ph.D.,  Professor  in  Dartmouth  College.  Ready. 

LIVY,  Book  I,  for  rapid  reading.    By  Professor  LORD. 

LUCRETIUS,  De  Rerum  Natura,  Book  III.  By  W.  A.  MERRILL,  Ph.D., 
Professor  in  the  University  of  California. 

MARTIAL,  Selections.  By  CHARLES  KNAPP,  Ph.D.,  Professor  IP 
Barnard  College. 

NEPOS,  for  rapid  reading.  By  ISAAC  FLAGG,  Ph.D.,  Professor  in  the 
University  of  California.  Ready. 

NEPOS,  Selections.  By  J.  C.  JONES,  A.M.,  Professor  in  the  University 
of  Missouri. 

OVID,  Selections  from  the  Metamorphoses,  based  upon  the  edition  of 
Meuser-Egen.  By  B.  L.  WIGGINS,  A.M.,  Professor  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  the  South. 


OVID,  Selections,  for  rapid  reading.  By  A.  L.  BONDURANT,  A.M., 
Professor  in  the  University  of  Mississippi. 

PETRONIUS,  Cena  Trimalchionis,  based  upon  the  edition  of  Bucheler. 
By  W.  E.  WATERS,  Ph.D.,  President  of  Wells  College. 

PLAUTUS,  Captivi,  for  rapid  reading.  By  GROVE  E.  BARBER,  A.M., 
Professor  in  the  University  of  Nebraska. 

PLAUTUS,  Menaechmi,  based  upon  the  edition  of  Brix.  By  HAROLD 
N.  FOWLER,  Ph.D.,  Professor  in  the  Western  Reserve  Univer- 
sity. Ready. 

PLINY,  Select  Letters,  for  rapid  reading.  By  SAMUEL  BALL  PLAI- 
NER, Ph.D.,  Professor  in  the  Western  Reserve  University.  Ready. 

QUINTILIAN,  Book  X  and  Selections  from  Book  XII,  based  upon 
the  edition  of  Kriiger.  By  CARL  W.  BELSER,  Ph.D.,  Professor  in 
the  University  of  Colorado. 

SALLUST,  Catiline,  based  upon  the  edition  of  Schmalz.  By  CHARLES 
G.  HERBERMANN,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor  in  the  College  of  the 
City  of  New  York.  Ready. 

SENECA,  Select  Letters.    By  E.  C.  WINSLOW,  A.M. 

TACITUS,  Annals,  Book  I  and  Selections  from  Book  II,  based  upon 
the  edition  of  Nipperdey-Andresen.  By  E.  M.  HYDE,  Ph.D.,  Pro- 
fessor in  Lehigh  University. 

TACITUS,  Annals,  Book  XV.  By  J.  EVERETT  BRADY,  Ph.D.,  Pro- 
fessor in  Smith  College. 

TACITUS,  Agricola  and  Germania,  based  upon  the  editions  of  Schwei- 
zer-Sidler  and  Drager.  By  A.  G.  HOPKINS,  Ph.D.,  Professor  in 
Hamilton  College.  Ready. 

TACITUS,  Histories,  Book  I  and  Selections  from  Books  II-V,  based 
upon  the  edition  of  Wolff.  By  EDWARD  H.  SPIEKER,  Ph.D.,  Pro- 
fessor in  the  Johns  Hopkins  University. 

TERENCE,  Adelphoe,  for  rapid  reading.  By  WILLIAM  L.  COWLES, 
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TERENCE,  Phormio,  based  upon  the  edition  of  Dziatzko.  By  HER- 
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Jacoby.  By  HENRY  F.  BURTON,  A.M.,  Professor  in  the  University 
of  Rochester. 

VALERIUS  MAXIMUS,  Fifty  Selections,  for  rapid  reading.  By 
CHARLES  S.  SMITH,  A.M.,  College  of  New  Jersey.  Ready. 

3 


VELLEIUS  PATERCULUS,  Historia  Romana,  Book  II.  By  F.  E. 
RocKWOOi),  A.M.,  Professor  in  Bucknell  University.  Ready. 

VERGIL,  Books  I- VI.  By  E.  ANTOINETTE  ELY,  A.M.,  Clifton 
School,  and  S.  FRANCES  PELLETT,  A.M.,  Binghamton  High 
School,  N.Y. 

VERGIL,  The  Story  of  Turnus  from  Aen.  VII-XII,  for  rapid  reading. 
By  MOSES  SLAUGHTER,  Ph.D.,  Professor  in  Iowa  College.  Ready. 

VIRI  ROMAE,  Selections.  By  G.  M.  WHICHER,  A.M.,  Packer  Col- 
legiate Institute.  Ready. 

LATIN  COMPOSITION,  for  college  use.  By  WALTER  MILLER,  A.M., 
Professor  in  the  Leland  Stanford  Jr.  University.  Ready. 

LATIN  COMPOSITION,  for  advanced  classes.  By  H.  R.  FAIRCLOUGH, 
A.M.,  Professor  in  the  Leland  Stanford  Jr.  University. 

HAND-BOOK  OF  LATIN  SYNONYMS.    By  Mr.  MILLER. 

A  FIRST  BOOK  IN  LATIN.  By  HIRAM  TUELL,  A.M.,  Principal  of 
the  Milton  High  School,  Mass.,  and  HAROLD  N.  FOWLER,  Ph.D., 
Western  Reserve  University.  Ready. 

EXERCISES  IN  LATIN  COMPOSITION,  for  schools.  By  M.  GRANT 
DANIELL,  A.M.,  formerly  Principal  of  Channcy-Hall  School, 
Boston.  Ready. 

A  NEW  LATIN  PROSE  COMPOSITION.  By  M.  GRANT  DANIELL, 
A.M.  Ready. 

THE  PRIVATE  LIFE   OF  THE   ROMANS,  a  manual  for  the  use  of 

schools  and  colleges.     By  HARRIET  WATERS  PRESTON  and  LOUISE 
DODGE.  Ready. 

GREEK  AND  ROMAN  MYTHOLOGY,  based  on  the  recent  work  of 
Steading.  By  KARL  P.  HARRINGTON,  A.M.,  Professor  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  North  Carolina,  and  HERBERT  C.  TOLMAN,  Ph.D.,  Pro- 
fessor in  Vanderbilt  University.  Ready. 

ATLAS  ANTIQUUS,  twelve  maps  of  the  ancient  world,  for  schools  and 
colleges.  By  Dr.  HENRY  KIEPERT,  M.R.  Acad.  Berlin.  Ready. 

Tentative  arrangements  have  been  made  for  other  books  not  ready 
to  be  announced. 


LEACH,  SHEWELL,  &  SANBORN, 

Boston,  New  York,  and  Chicago. 

4 


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